Lunar Painting
by Kane Magus
Summary: Castlevania and Dracula have risen again, this time in Japan, circa 1997. The traditional forces of good who normally fight this menace are preparing to do battle once again. But this time, they aren't alone in their fight.
1. Prologue

Lunar Painting - A Sailor Moon / Castlevania Crossover

By Kane Magus

* * *

Disclaimers: The Sailor Moon universe and all characters in it was created by Naoko Takeuchi and is copyrighted by Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha, Toei, DiC and probably a lot more.

The Castlevania universe and all characters in it was created by and is copyrighted by the nice folks at Konami.

Both are being used without permission or consent by this author. This author hopes they don't mind as this fan fic was written purely for fun.

And for the sake of this author's ego, which has swelled exponentially since he finally finished this blasted thing (^_^), feel free to distribute this fic to anybody and everybody you want. But please, try not to make any money off of it, because I sure know _I'm_ not.

* * *

**Prologue - Late 1996**

Dak looked up from writing in his journal at a slight rustling sound just outside of the window. Just like every other night during the month that he had been staying at the small Romanian inn, he saw a small family of bats leave their hiding places in the roof of the inn and fly off into the night looking for food. However, unlike every other night, they gave him an odd sense of agitation this night. "Hmmph, I guess I'm just still wound up after today's excitement," he said to himself.

He glanced toward the back of the room. His eyes came to rest on the large, elaborately designed, wooden coffin that took up the majority of the area.

"I really wish I didn't have to keep it here," he said, thinking aloud, "but once I uncovered it I couldn't very well just leave it in that catacomb or tomb raiders probably would have found out about it and stolen it. I didn't have time to make arrangements for it to be taken to a more secure location. No, I made the right decision bringing it here, I'm sure."

Dak shook his head wistfully, still muttering to himself, "Boy the value of that single casket is beyond measure. To think that after years of searching I finally made the discovery of the century... no make that the millennium. I just wish that I could open it and see what all is in there..." At this he started to rise from his chair. Thinking better of it though, he sat down and muttered, "But no, I can't risk damaging it after all I've been through to get it."

As he went back to writing, he thought back upon the troubles he'd had in just the past month since he arrived in Romania, not to mention the troubles he'd had the many years prior to it. One of the bigger problems he'd had since arriving there was finding someone familiar with the surrounding countryside to act as his guide. Well, that wasn't exactly the problem. The real problem was finding someone who wouldn't curse him for a fool and leave him standing in the dust at the slightest hint of what he intended to do.

Finally, he'd found a guide who wasn't afraid of him or his quest. He'd been a little skeptical at first though. His guide was a young woman who couldn't have been older than maybe seventeen or eighteen years old. She'd told him her name was Kara Belnades and that she was very familiar with both the area and the subject of his journey. She'd refused to reveal anything more definitive than that other than to say that she thought he was wasting his time on a wild goose chase. She had turned out to be an excellent guide though.

Dak looked up again as he remembered the events of that very day. After weeks of walking the Romanian countryside looking for any sort of clue that might lead him to his quarry, they had come upon a small cave. The cave was so small in fact that had he been alone he probably would have missed it altogether.

* * *

"Ah, I think I see something, Dr. Jones," Kara said pointing to the small, almost invisible indentation in the nearby hillside.

"Well, let's go check it out, then," Dak replied. They walked over to the cave entrance and peered inside. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, Dak turned to Kara and said, "You want to wait out here with the team or come with me?"

"I'm coming with you. I've come this far with you, no sense in quitting now," Kara said as she began to crawl through the cave opening, sensing Dak's excitement at a potential discovery grow by the minute.

Dak turned to the rest of his team, which consisted mostly of some people he had hired in the States a few years back. They weren't exactly friends but he'd come to depend upon them. "Ok, guys, Kara and I are going in. You guys stay out here. I'll call you if I need you." He then followed Kara into the small opening.

The cave opened into a much larger catacomb that extended far into the hillside. Dak produced a pair of high intensity flashlights and handed one to Kara. Soon, they came upon, of all things, a large oaken doorway. There were runes on the doorway that Dak couldn't decipher.

"Hmm," Dak mumbled as they approached the doorway, "there seems to be some sort of writing on the archway over the door but I can't make it out. I don't understand the language. Can you read it, Kara?"

Kara walked up to the door and looked at the writing. Although she understood many different languages, this one looked archaic and thus would be difficult for her to translate. "It's... I think it's an old form of Latin. I'll try to translate: _'To any and all who are foolish enough to have come here. Take heed for my words are of the utmost importance. Beyond this portal lies at rest an unparalleled evil. Through the efforts of myself and my allies, we were able to put a seal on the chamber in which he lies that, hopefully, will keep him locked away for eternity. DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER. Your lives, nay, the very fate of this world will be endangered if you go any further. Again, heed my warning and go from this place and never return.'_ At the bottom is the letter 'A'."

After reading the warning, Kara paled visibly. "I don't believe it... the stories were true... my ancestors... I'm such an idiot to have doubted..." The rest of her speech was incoherent ramblings in her native tongue that Dak couldn't make out.

"Wow, that's some warning. It's almost as good as some of the ones I've seen on tombs of the Pharaohs." He stood there regarding the writing on the wall for a moment then began to force open the door.

Kara looked at him in shock, "Dr. Jones, for the love of God, what are you doing!"

"I'm continuing my search, what does it look like?" he said, stopping to look at her.

"But the warning... I never believed it before, but it is said my family has had a long history dealing with... him," she didn't even want to say the name, "Now that I know the stories are true, I think we should obey the warning and get out of here!"

He stared at her for a moment then went back to opening the door. "Look, there's no way in hell I'm going to let some ancient curse or whatever that was stop me when I'm this close. I mean, come on. What do you expect to happen? You think Bela Lugosi is going to pop up and put the bite on you? Those are just myths. Look, Vlad Tepes was just a person, like you and me. Granted he was a sadistic and bloodthirsty person, but he was still just a human being. I hope I can shed the light of truth on those myths with what I think we're about to find." He had the door open by then and went inside. Kara was deathly pale. She looked like she wanted to run, but instead she made the sign of the cross and followed Dak into the room. "Fool," she said under her breath.

Sitting there in the center of the room was the large casket. It was the only thing in the room. Dak walked up to it and put his hands on it. It perfectly matched the descriptions he had heard in the documents he had obtained over the years. "Finally, after years of preparation, I've found it. The final resting place of Vlad Tepes. Kara, go get the guys. We've got to get this thing out of here... Kara? Kara!"

He turned to see that she had fainted dead away. He picked her up and carried her out of the cave, then made arrangements with his crew to have the coffin brought back to his room for the night. He told them he would make further arrangements for it tomorrow since by then it was nearly dark.

* * *

"And now, the world will finally know about the man behind the myths," Dak thought as he continued writing in the journal. A slight bump caused him to stop momentarily. He shook his head and said, "Damned bats. They're really starting to get on my nerves."

"Ah, but what possible reason could you have to be annoyed at such beautiful creatures," said a very deep, very dark voice from very close behind him.

Dak's heart skipped a beat as he leapt up from the desk, knocking the chair back. He started to turn around when he felt powerful hands grip his shoulders and hurl him across the room.

After Dak got shakily to his feet, he looked at his attacker. His face went a pale white at what he saw. "....I do not believe what I'm seeing..."

Before him stood a man nearly seven feet tall, wearing a black vest with a white undershirt, black pants, and a long black cape with red inner lining. Around his neck was some sort of amulet. His long, grayish hair waved freely in the still night air. His mustache, which was the same color as his hair, stuck out from either side of his mouth. The most striking feature about him was his skin color. It was a pale grayish color; it almost looked as if it had a greenish tint to it. At least, it was the most striking feature until the man smiled, revealing very long, very sharp canines.

"Oh my God," said Dak as he started mindlessly groping for a weapon, not that it would do any good, "it can't be... who... what are you?!" But he feared he already knew the answer to that question, however impossible that answer might seem to him.

"Oh you know full well who I am, Dakota Jones. I am the object of your most foolish quest. You know, that myth that you were going to dispel by proving I was... human," the man spat the last word out, "My name is... well, I've gone by many names. You may know me as Vlad the Impaler or, of course, Count Dracula. I've been watching you from afar as what began as a passing interest in myself turned into an overwhelming obsession... with a little push from me of course. I must thank you. Because of your doomed search I am now free of that cursed seal... weak though it was... I would have escaped on my own eventually. But it never hurts to have help. May you serve me well as the first of my new army of loyal subjects." With that Dracula started to glide toward Dak.

Dak's hand came to rest upon a weapon at last. It was his most cherished possession: a whip that had belonged to his grandfather. He picked up the whip and with skill born of years of practice, sent it hurtling toward his adversary.

Dracula, for his part, merely reached out and caught the whip as it neared him. "Ah, foolish mortal. You are no Belmont, and this is no 'Vampire Killer'." He gave the whip a yank and once again Dak was flying through the air. This time he crashed through the large glass double doors that led outside to the second story balcony. Ignoring the cuts he received from the broken glass, he stood to face his assailant once again.

"Now, mortal, as entertaining as this has been, I must feed. I'm not quite fully recovered from my time in that cave, and also it is not yet time for my new rebirth. I have you to thank for my premature awakening." He continued on toward Dak.

Dak backed up until he bumped the railing surrounding the balcony. He looked behind him and saw the drop off. Although he was only on the second floor of the inn, the inn sat on the edge of a cliff, so below him was a good two hundred feet before there was any ground. To Dak, it had seemed a rather stupid place to build something. Now, that feeling was multiplied as he now had no where to run because of it. Dak turned to see Dracula almost on him. He screamed and threw his arms up, leaning back in the process. Suddenly, the railing behind him gave way. Almost as if in slow motion, Dak fell screaming to his death on the rocky cliff side far below.

Dracula looked down at his would-be victim in annoyance. "A pity. I really had my heart set on his blood tonight. But, as I said before, it is not time for me to awaken yet. I've been without feeding for nearly eighty years, I certainly think I'll be able to wait a few more months. I must sleep until that time..." He gave one last glance to the disfigured body at the bottom of the ravine.

He returned to his coffin and all was as it was before save for the broken rail of the balcony and the fact that the sole occupant of the room was lying with a broken neck over two hundred feet below.

* * *

Kara awoke from her fitful sleep with a jump. That night she had dreamed that she was on a quest to destroy Dracula. With her in the dream were three other beings, but she could not make out who they were. All she remembered was that one of them, apparently the leader, used a whip. Another of them was some sort of sailor, maybe a pirate of some kind. The third was the most mysterious of all. She remembered nothing of him other than that he had a close connection to Dracula. They all seemed very familiar to her, and not just because she had been told stories similar to her dream many times by both her mother and her grandmother. No, this was different even from those countless tales from her youth. However, their small group had not been alone. There were several others who were helping them as well. She could remember nothing of them however... in fact she didn't think that they were part of the stories she had been told as a child either.

"Weird dream..." she thought as she got out of bed and dressed. She left her room and immediately noticed something was wrong.

Down the hall, the door to Dak's room was open, and she could hear voices coming from within. She entered the room and saw several people, including Dak's team, surveying the room.

"What's going on here?" she asked, heading toward Jeff, the one who was usually left in charge of Dak's team when Dak was otherwise occupied. "Where's Dr. Jones?"

Jeff looked at her with a solemn expression then pointed toward the balcony where several more people were examining the railing. Kara went out on the balcony. She noticed that the railing was broken in one area. She also spotted an old leather whip lying, apparently undiscovered by the others, in the corner next to the wall. Stepping carefully on the broken glass, she moved over and picked up the whip. In the distance, she heard a helicopter getting closer.

She went up to the owner of the inn who was out on the balcony with some others and asked, "What has happened here? Where is Dr. Jones?"

The inn keeper jumped as if startled, and turned around to face her. "Great evil was here very recently! I can feel it! It's that cursed coffin that he had brought here very much against my wishes! This is the work of a vampire, mark my words! It should be destroyed now, while we still have time! You, of all people, should know that what I say is true!" He pointed toward the broken railing. "There... there you will find your friend."

Before Kara could say anything more, the people on the balcony went back inside the room and headed for the coffin. Jeff and the others in Dak's team stepped in front of them. "What do you think you are doing?" Jeff asked.

"We are going to destroy the evil that lies in that coffin. Do not try to stop us!" They forced their way past Jeff and the others, ignoring their protests. Upon reaching the casket, the innkeeper forced it open.

Kara walked over with Jeff and they looked into the coffin as well. The coffin was empty save for a thin layer of dust lining the bottom.

"See," said Jeff, "you people are too superstitious for your own good. As horrible as it is that Dak fell off your balcony, you can't go dreaming up wild excuses for it. If anybody is to blame, it is you. If you had just bothered to maintain this run down excuse for an inn, you would have seen how rotten that wood out on the railing really is. You..."

The innkeeper looked up from the coffin angrily, "I do not care what you say. I know there is evil in the air. I want this thing out of this inn before noon today. I don't care what you do with it, although I wish you would destroy it, I just want it out of here and you with it!"

"Fine," said Jeff evenly. By then, the helicopter had arrived and was landing nearby. "Our ride back to the airport is here. We'll be happy to oblige you in your stupid superstitions. As soon as we... can get Dak's body out of that chasm, we'll load up the coffin and be on our way. It'll be none too soon for my tastes. You and your damned garlic. I'm so sick of garlic I could puke."

Meanwhile, Kara had been examining the coffin more carefully while Jeff and the old innkeeper argued. Although she couldn't get a bead on it she could definitely feel something was amiss with the coffin. "I know there is more to this than it seems. I can't just dismiss that warning in the cave. I suppose all that is left for me is to accept my destiny. I will keep an eye on this coffin and at the first definitive clue that Dracula has really returned, I will follow in my ancestors' footsteps."

Jeff, finished with talking to the innkeeper, walked over to Kara. "Well, Kara, I wish Dak were here to do this himself, but he isn't. Here is what we owe you for helping us in our search." He handed her a good amount of money.

Kara said, "I can't accept this. Not after..."

Jeff continued to offer her the money. He said, "Look, I know Dak's death is a blow to everyone, but he would have wanted you to have this. You turned out to be all right after all."

"Instead of repaying me with money, can you do me a favor?" Kara said.

"Um, I guess that would depend on the favor," Jeff replied.

"Let me go with you. I don't know why, but I feel that my role in all this has not yet come to an end."

Jeff stood thoughtfully regarding her for a moment, then said, "Well, I don't see any problems with that I guess. But our part in this will be finished when we get back to America. We will turn the coffin over to the university. I think they were going to tour it in various places around the world, sort of like they did with the remains of Rameses a few years back. Of course, we'll be leaving today, as soon as we get it loaded up... and as soon as we can make arrangements for Dak's body."

"That will be fine," said Kara. "I live alone so I have no real connections with other people to have to break, since my parents have both passed away. All I need is a little time to get a few things I need to take with me and I'll be ready. I'll be back here in a little while."

Later that day, the team loaded up their things on the helicopter that would take them back to the airport. Kara joined them with what she had gotten together. They flew back to the airport and then caught their flight back to the United States.

"I think my life just took a major left turn," Kara thought to herself as she watched the clouds pass by the window. She fingered a leather pouch that was in her lap.

In the cargo bay of the jet, noticed by no one, the coffin of Dracula glowed softly, as a fine mist seeped out of it.


	2. Chapter 1

Timeframe:

Sailor Moon - a short time after the defeat of Chaos.

Castlevania - well, it's close to being 100 years since the events in Bram Stoker's Dracula, so...

Both - several months after the events in the prologue

* * *

**Chapter One**

Things had been relatively quiet since the ordeal with Galaxia. The world was back to normal and everyone was enjoying peace and quiet. Well, not exactly everyone.

"REI!!! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO BE SO MEAN TO ME??!!" Usagi wailed as she tried to contain an already messy spill of chocolate fudge. It was meant for the vanilla ice cream that was also spreading across the table next to it. Without thinking, she grabbed up the first thing she could get her hands on and began to wipe up the fudge.

"Why'd you have to revert back into a klutz?!" Rei argued as she hastily tried to move things off of the table and out of the way. "Look at all that wasted ice cream and fudge Makoto made, just because you had your nose stuck in that manga and weren't watching where you... I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!!! YOU'RE USING MY MANGA TO WIPE IT UP?!"

Usagi looked down and noticed that she did indeed have what was left of Rei's manga in her hand. Usagi flushed a deep crimson and she dropped the manga onto the table, adding to the mess. "Oops! Uh, it wasn't all that good of an issue anyway. You didn't really miss anything."

Makoto, Minako, and Ami came from the direction of Makoto's kitchen, with paper towels and a small trash can for the mess, in time to hear Rei shout, "Yeah, well, I would have liked to have been able to read it myself just the same! Ooooh, you drive me so nuts sometimes!" She picked up the manga and tossed it into the trash can.

"It was a bad idea to leave those two in a room alone together," Minako quipped. "I'm surprised they haven't killed each other in the half a minute we've been gone."

"Yeah, really," said Ami. She was carrying a mop and began to clean up what had spilled off of the table onto the floor.

Finally, after several minutes, they had the disaster under control. As Usagi and Rei sat on the sofa with their backs to each other after the usual heated verbal (and tongue) war, Makoto said, "Well, I can always make some more ice cream. I'll just have to run down to the store and get some more fudge. You guys can watch TV or something while I'm gone."

"I'll go with you," said Ami. She put down her book she'd been reading during Usagi's and Rei's rather long argument and reached for her jacket. They went to the door and just as Makoto was about to open it, they heard a knock. Makoto opened the door and let Mamoru enter.

"Hi, Luna said I could find Usagi here," he said. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Hi, Mamoru. Ami and I are on our way down to the store to get some more fudge. Come on in," Makoto said as she and Ami made their way past him and out the door.

"You just missed the big clean-up after the human natural disaster over here knocked over the entire tub of ice cream and fudge that Makoto had made. And to think, this was the same person that saved the entire galaxy not too long ago," Rei called from the sofa. "Hey, Meatball Head! Your fiancee's here!" She reached over and smacked Usagi none too lightly on the back of the head.

Usagi, who had been silently sulking with her back to the door, spun around. "Hey, I heard you already!" She brightened visibly at the sight of Mamoru. "Hi, Mamo-chan!"

"I hope you heard me, you were right there on the sofa next to me," Rei said. Usagi's response was to smack her in return as she ran over to Mamoru and out of her reach. She kissed him and said, "What brings you over here at this time of day? (Not that I'm complaining or anything.) I thought you would be gone until this evening at that job interview."

Mamoru had been gone most of the day on the first of several job interviews he had lined up. Since he never showed up at Harvard, even though it was not his fault of course, his application had been voided for that year. He had called them recently but was told it was too late to reapply for that year, so he was looking for something to do until he could go again next year.

Mamoru and Usagi walked over and sat down on the sofa, with Mamoru between Usagi and Rei. "They canceled the interview. Something about the interviewer having a case of food poisoning or something. Anyway, I stopped by the arcade to talk to Motoki and he told me about this new exhibit they have at the museum. I was planning on going over there tomorrow and I wanted to know if you guys wanted to go with me."

Before anyone else could respond to that, Minako said, "Hey, is that what you're talking about?" She pointed at the television screen which was showing the news. There wasn't anything else on so Minako had turned it to that.

"Yeah, that's it right there. Someone finally found the tomb of Vlad Tepes. They have it and some other stuff on display at the museum. I've always had a passing interest in anything to do with the vampire myths so I figured it might be worth a look," Mamoru said. "Could you turn that up a bit please, Minako?"

"Sure," she replied. She picked up the remote and increased the volume on the TV... a little too much. Suddenly, the windows began to rattle with the extremely high amount of sound coming from the TV.

"NOT... QUITE... THAT... LOUD... MINAKO!!" Rei shouted over the noise, her hands covering her ears in pain.

"SORRY!!" Minako yelled as she got it down to a more manageable level.

The anchor on the news show was saying, "...and after months of touring across Europe and the United States, the coffin of Vlad Tepes will be in Japan for the next three months. One of the first site will be at the museum here in the Juuban district."

"Hey, he's kinda cute, don't you think?" Minako said, referring to the anchor. Just before that, the door had opened, admitting Makoto and Ami.

"Yeah," said Makoto, overhearing Minako, "he looks just like my old boyfriend." Everyone else groaned at this. "What?" Makoto said innocently, heading into the kitchen with the fudge.

They set the fudge in the refrigerator for the moment and came back into the room. "What's going on?" Ami asked as they found places to sit in front of the TV.

"They're doing a segment on the new exhibit of Vlad Tepes's casket at the museum," Mamoru replied. "I'm going over there tomorrow and I came over to ask if you all wanted to go too."

"...but tragically," the anchor continued, "the man that discovered this monumental ruin, Dr. Dakota Jones, a professor of archaeology at Harvard University, had an unfortunate, fatal accident the day of the find. The owners of the inn that Dr. Jones was staying in at the time, as well as other local residents, claimed that Dr. Jones was the unfortunate victim of a vampire. The nature of the discovery only added to the suspicions of the locals. However, authorities have determined that the cause of Dr. Jones's tragic death was the rotting wood of the banister around the balcony of the room in which he was staying. Apparently, the night of the find, Dr. Jones had been on the balcony when the railing gave way. The balcony overlooked a sheer cliff that had a depth of two hundred plus feet. It is unlikely that any sort of..."

"That's... terrible," said Mamoru as he listened to this. "Dr. Jones was one of the people I had been in contact with about going to Harvard. We used to chat on the Internet some too. I didn't know he was the one who made the find, though."

"What's all this about vampires? Who's Vlad Tepes, anyway?" Usagi said as the anchor went on to talk about other things unrelated to the story of Dr. Jones's death and the museum exhibit.

"Vlad III Tepes was a Wallachian prince that lived hundreds of years ago," Mamoru explained. At the blank stares he received from Usagi, Makoto, and Minako, he continued, "Wallachia is a region in the southern part of Romania."

Minako, still confused but trying to help out, stated, "Hmm, Romania? I met a gymnast from Romania once, back in England."

"Actually," said Ami, going back to what Mamoru said, "Vlad Tepes was born in Transylvania. I read somewhere that his father was there trying to get help to take control of Wallachia from their rivals."

"True," said Mamoru, "Transylvania is another region of Romania that I'm sure you all have heard of before. Anyway, like I said before, he was a Wallachian prince. He fought against the Ottoman Empire during the fifteenth century. What he is most well known for, however, is his practice of impaling his enemies on stakes. He supposedly impaled thousands of victims during his rule. That's what Tepes means: 'Impaler'."

"Eww, what do you want to go to an exhibit about someone like that for?" said Usagi, as she made a face, "I didn't know you knew so much about this kind of stuff. I still don't get what that has to do with vampires, though."

Rei spoke up this time, "You've never heard of Count Dracula, Meatball Head?" Once, she had borrowed Bram Stoker's Dracula from Ami, so she wasn't as totally in the dark as the rest of them seemed to be.

Usagi stuck her tongue out at Rei and said, "Of course I have, Pyro. Do you think I'm totally clueless?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Rei asked sweetly.

Other than a nasty look tossed in Rei's direction, Usagi ignored her and said, "But anyway, would somebody please explain what that has to do with vampires other than the fact that you said this Vlad guy was born in Transylvania."

"Yeah," Makoto added, "what's the connection?"

"Vlad the Impaler," said Ami, "was thought by most people to have been the historical figure upon which Bram Stoker based his book Dracula. That's what is so interesting about this finding. It will shed some light on the man behind all the myths and legends of Dracula."

"Well, you girls up for a little trip to the museum with me tomorrow?" Mamoru asked again.

"I'll go with you," said Ami.

"Count me in," said Rei.

"I don't know if I want to spend the day in some stuffy museum looking at stuff about some dead guy that tortured people long ago," Usagi said dubiously. She looked over at Minako and Makoto, who seemed to be as hesitant as she was.

"Oh, I forgot to mention," said Mamoru, "that I ran into Seiya at the arcade too. He said that he, Taiki, and Yaten were planning on going too. He seemed pretty psyched up about it, too." The Three Lights had decided to stay on Earth for a while after the Galaxia incident, although they were no longer a band. They didn't need to be since they had found Princess Kakyuu, who had returned to their homeworld after everything was back to normal.

"Well, now that you mention it," said Minako, "a little stroll through the museum never hurt anyone."

"Yeah," Makoto said, smiling, "Okay, I'm in."

They all looked at Usagi. "I still don't know..."

"Please," said Mamoru, giving her his best attempt at puppy eyes, "just do this one little thing for me?" He pouted his lower lip out melodramatically. The other girls broke out into laughter at the sight, especially since it was usually Usagi giving the puppy eye treatment to Mamoru.

Usagi laughed too and put her arms around him. "Oh, how can I resist? You knew I wasn't going to really say no, didn't you?"

Mamoru winked at her and said, "Well, I doubt we'll be there all day, anyway. How about I take you to the movies afterward? The rest of you too, my treat?" That sealed the deal.

They spent the rest of the day just sitting around, watching TV, and eating ice cream. This time they avoided the huge mess.

* * *

"Hey, son, how was class today?" Sinclair Morris asked as he walked into the small two-story house that he and his eighteen year old son, Janus, lived in.

"Hi, dad. It was awesome! Master Kaine sparred with me today!" said Janus, known as Jan to most of his friends and family.

"Yeah? How'd it go? Ol' Kwai Chang didn't beat you too badly did he?" joked Sinclair, as he sat his briefcase on a nearby table and headed into the kitchen. He too had studied martial arts under Master Kaine years ago. He rubbed his head as he remembered the times he had sparred with Kaine. The man's name was actually David, but when he'd started teaching years ago, one of his students had nicknamed him Kwai Chang. The name had stuck ever since. He sure fought like the Kwai Chang Kaine from the movie and television show, as most of his students learned the hard way.

"Believe it or not, I actually scored on him once! Everyone was shocked... especially me. Master Kaine didn't seem too bothered by it though. He just commented that I had taken advantage of a momentary flash of light reflecting off of Master Wall's head."

"Ha!" Sinclair nearly choked on his drink at that. "That certainly is an original way to say 'the sun was in my eyes.' I'll have to remember that one. But that's really good, son. Not many have the skill to score on Master Kaine. I know I never did anyway."

"It was luck mostly. Of course, he then proceeded to wipe up the floor with me, but I had kinda expected that would happen," Jan said. He absentmindedly rubbed a slight bruise on his arm that he had gotten not from Kaine, but from his somewhat painful collision with the wall after being thrown by Kaine. He'd failed to properly catch himself. Kaine's disapproving glance was worse than taking the fall. But other than that, he'd held his own as much as he could have hoped to against his seemingly unbeatable martial arts teacher.

"Even so, I'd say you did as well as could be expected. Better even. Well, anything else interesting happen while I was at work?"

"Grandpa Emmett called about a half hour ago. He said he'd be over here as soon as he got some stuff together. He told me to make sure you didn't run off anywhere because his reason for coming was very important." Jan looked up at his father. "He sounded serious."

Sinclair's whole demeanor changed at that. "Hmm. My father and 'serious' are two things that rarely go together. I wonder when he'll get here?"

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Jan got up and opened the door. Emmett Morris walked in carrying a huge leather duffel bag of some sort over his shoulder.

"Sinclair, we have to talk," he said as he set the bag on the couch next to Jan. "Hey, Jan, I have another bag like this out in the car. Could you run out and get it for me?"

"Sure, grandpa." Janus got up and left the room.

"Sinclair, turn on the television. Put it on CNN."

Sinclair did as he was told. The sight on the screen shocked him to his core.

"...minutes ago! Now the mysterious castle which has appeared over Tokyo has apparently consumed, for lack of a better word, the museum over which it appeared and is using it for a foundation! Witnesses say they saw four figures that appeared humanoid actually hovering near the top of the castle before heading for ground level. Their current whereabouts, or even what they are, is unknown. Japanese law enforcement officials are aiding in the evacuation of the surrounding area. As of yet, the nature of the mysterious castle and the intent of whoever or whatever is inside is also unknown at this time. Currently..."

"Oh my God... Is that...?" Sinclair said, dumbfounded.

"Yes, son. That is the very same Castlevania that has appeared in the stories throughout the Belmont clan's long history. I knew that when those people found Dracula's coffin a few months ago that nothing good would come from it. I'd hoped I would be wrong but... You know what this means, don't you?" Emmett looked at Sinclair with as serious an expression as Sinclair had ever seen him use.

"It means we're going to Japan for one thing. It also means I was a complete idiot not to tell Janus about..." he was interrupted by a muffled explosion from outside and Jan's startled cry.

* * *

Jan went outside to his grandfather's car. He looked through the back window and saw the bag that his grandfather mentioned. He opened the door and picked up the bag. It was much heavier than it appeared, causing Janus to drop it.

The string holding it closed came loose, spilling some of the contents of the bag onto the ground, one of which was a long, elaborately designed whip.

"Hmm. What is all this stuff? I never knew Grandpa Emmett had such a collection of old weapons like this. This is sort of like that stuff he always talked about in his stories. Why's he got it here in these bags, I wonder? Why'd he bring them over here?" Jan said as he reached down and started to put stuff back in the bag. He gripped the handle of the whip and began to place it back into the bag.

Suddenly, with a violent explosion, the entire length of the whip burst into red hot flames. With a shout of surprise, Jan dropped the whip.

Emmett and Sinclair rushed out of the house to see what was going on. "Son! Are you all right? What happened?" a worried Sinclair said as he looked his son over.

"Well, I don't know really. I picked up Grandpa Emmett's bag and was bringing it in the house but I dropped it. This stuff fell out of it and I picked up that whip to put it back when it caught on fire!" He looked from his father to his grandfather for explanation.

"Hmm," was all that Emmett said at first. He picked up the whip and looked it over.

"Flames you say? Here, take it again." He handed the whip back to Jan.

Jan took it and again, although not quite so violently this time, the whip's length caught fire. Jan just stood there holding it looking at it blankly.

"Not since Simon..." Sinclair started to say, but Emmett put a hand on his arm.

"Jan, you remember those stories I used to tell you long ago? You know the ones about our family's history?" Emmett said, looking sternly at his grandson.

"You mean those fables about our ancestors being vampire hunters and defeating Dracula? Like the stories you used to tell me about my great grandfather John?" said Jan as he looked up from the flaming whip. He had a feeling now that those stories held more truth to them than he had given them credit for.

"Those were not mere fables, my boy. You hold in your hand there the legendary Vampire Killer. However, not since your many times great grandfather Simon Belmont has it glowed with holy fire like that. Richter was able to make it flare too, but only for short periods of time. This just has to be an omen of some sort, as cliched as that may sound. What with Castlevania reappearing, albeit in Japan of all places, and then you wielding the Vampire Killer like this..." Emmett's voice began to trail off.

"Jan, do you know what this means?" Sinclair said, "You have the potential to be greatest vampire hunter in the history of the Belmont clan. I didn't train you like I should have or even tell you about the truth in hopes that John's seal on Dracula would actually hold and you would be able to lead a normal life. Obviously, that was extreme foolishness on my part for as your grandfather said, Castlevania has appeared again."

"We were both fools," said Emmett, "I mean look. It has been over eighty years since John erected that seal. It was hoped that it would hold Dracula for the rest of eternity. And yet, somehow, history has repeated itself once again and here, nearing the one hundredth year anniversary of my grandfather Quincey Morris's battle with Dracula, the evil is being unleashed again. It's right on 'schedule' actually. You know the stories, even though you thought them only myths. But we never bothered to formally train you in our arts. We must begin your training immediately, and hope that it's not too late. Then we must go to Japan at the soonest possible opportunity and confront the evil before it grows much stronger."

Jan looked back down at the whip and then back to his grandfather and father. "Whoa, hold on just a minute... you are telling me that I am a vampire hunter all of a sudden?"

"Oh, yes, my boy. And from the looks of it, a very powerful vampire hunter. Come, we must get inside. Sinclair and I have to give you a crash lesson, so to speak, on your duties that have been so long neglected. I just hope that it isn't too late."

The three of them went back into the house, with Jan looking dubiously at his grandfather. The still flaming whip dragged the ground, forgotten by Jan as he tried to absorb it all. Sinclair reached down and took the whip from Jan, saying, "Ah, we don't want you burning down the house now." Thus began the training, however short and sudden it was, of the next Belmont.

* * *

Kara sat on the roof of a building adjacent to the museum in which she knew the coffin was on display. With a pair of binoculars, she studied the museum hoping to see something out of the ordinary. Anything.

She had followed the coffin of Dracula across the United States. Then she had returned to Europe with it and had continued to follow it around inconspicuously, hoping to find some small clue that would prove to her that she was not wasting her time. So far, she had found nothing.

Now she was in Tokyo. The coffin had finished its American and European tour and was now in Japan. Still she had found nothing that validated that strange feeling she had had on the day of Dak's death. The day that Dracula had been released from whatever was holding him in. She just wished that she would find something that would tell her one way or the other whether her intuition was right or not.

As her gaze passed over the entrance to the museum, she saw a man in an expensive looking suit walk out. She gasped and nearly dropped the binoculars. This was the something that she had been waiting for.

"That's... it can't be..." she said as she set down the binoculars and began quickly rummaging through a leather purse that she had always carried with her since she had left Romania.

She pulled out one of the several bound scrolls of parchment that were inside. These had been in her family for centuries. They recounted the history of her family as well as told of their vampire hunting methods among other things. She had thought little of them until the day she and Dak found Dracula's tomb.

Upon opening the scroll, she finally found something that confirmed her suspicions. On it was a copy of a detailed painting that some unknown artist had made of Dracula with some notes scribbled in the margins by various members of the Belnades family down through the ages. In the painting, to Dracula's left was a young woman that Kara didn't recognize. The name "Elizabeth" was written in the margin next to the woman. To her left, was another woman with the name "Actrise" written next to it with an arrow pointing to her. To Dracula's right was a man that she also hadn't recognized... until now. The man looked identical to the man that had walked out of the museum. Scribbled to the side was the name "Shaft" with a line pointing to this man.

"Shaft," said Kara to herself, "head priest of whatever twisted religion it is that worships Dracula. Now I know what I have to do. I just hope I'm ready." She placed the scroll back in the pouch and muttered, "Be careful what you wish for, Kara."

She got up and went toward the door that led to the elevator. Just as she neared the door, she felt a presence behind her. Spinning around, she saw that she stood face to face with Shaft. Instead of the suit, he was now wearing the same purple hooded robe that he wore in the painting.

"Ahh, so our phantom stalker has finally decided to take some action, eh?" Shaft said, looking at her disdainfully.

"What... how...?" Kara said, flustered. Then, regaining her composure, she said, "Prepare yourself, Shaft. I'm going to put an end to this right here before it even begins."

"Oh really?" Shaft snickered. He began to float a few feet above the ground. Several large, translucent orbs appeared and began to circle around his body. "Do you really think that you can even get past me, much less defeat the master? Why even now he is awakening."

"I hope all that practice pays off," Kara thought to herself. To Shaft, she said, "I will not allow you to bring that monster back into the world." With that she pulled a staff from beneath the large hooded robe she had been wearing.

"A piece of wood," Shaft said mockingly, "how... quaint. What do you plan to do? Club me to death with it?"

"No, I plan to do... THIS!" Kara said as she pointed the staff at Shaft. A large fireball erupted from the end of the staff and flew at him. She could see nothing of Shaft for several seconds until the fire had dissipated.

Shaft merely stood there, pointedly studying his fingernails. He looked up at her. "Hmmph, that was a rather pathetic excuse for a fireball I must say. Why Sypha and Carrie would be turning over in their graves if they knew that such a weakling was their descendant."

He began to move toward her. The orbs began to spin more quickly around him. "Now, my dear, I have enjoyed watching you act as if you are some kind of detective but I'm afraid I can't really allow you to even try to stop my master."

Electricity began to arc between two of the orbs, and they flew slowly toward her.

There was a flash of light behind Shaft. Kara, who was standing directly in front of Shaft and his spinning orbs, could not see what was going on. She heard an explosive sound and suddenly Shaft lurched forward toward her, falling to the ground in the process. The orbs with the lightning arcing between them ceased their approach and rejoined the rest of the ones that were spiraling around Shaft.

Shaft got to his feet. Without turning around, he said, "Ah, welcome Alucard. I wondered how long it would take you to realize that your stupid seal no longer held the master. As soon as I dispose of this troublemaker, I'll deal with you." He raised his eyes to Kara and sent three of the orbs hurtling in her direction.

Before she could even think, a column of light appeared to her right. Suddenly, she felt herself being propelled to the side by powerful arms. As she hit the ground she looked up to see a figure dressed in chain mail armor over which he wore a long coat. His black pants disappeared at the knees into equally black boots. He wore a long flowing black cape with a lining that shifted colors between a glowing red and black. He had long flowing white hair and pale white skin. His noble face contorted in anger as he looked at Shaft. His gauntleted right hand held a long, deadly broadsword. The length of the blade was surrounded in a mystic blue flame. On his left arm was a large, sturdy looking shield that bore an elaborate crest.

"It's him," Kara thought to herself excitedly, "It's Alucard, the son of Dracula. The one that has fought against Dracula for the past five hundred years. The one that fought at my ancestor's side."

"Shaft," was all he said, his voice dripping with a fury that it had not held in a long while. The three orbs ricocheted off of Alucard's shield and returned to their positions around Shaft.

"Alucard, so have you come for round three? Well, I would love to oblige you, but I'm afraid I have sudden business elsewhere at the moment. Don't think I'm merely chickening out on you though. The time of the master's awakening is at hand, and I must be there to make sure it comes about without any problems. Oh, by the way, how's the wife? The kids?" At that, Alucard lunged toward Shaft, swinging what would have been a killing blow with the sword.

The sword passed through the apparition of Shaft that was left over after he had teleported back into the museum. Its mocking laughter echoed against the nearby buildings.

Alucard stood there in Shaft's place. If Kara didn't know better she would describe him as infuriated, but this did not fit with any of the stories she had heard about the calm and collected Alucard. The Alucard that had fallen in love with the first of the Belmonts that fought against Dracula, Sonia Belmont, and had fathered her son. The Alucard that had aided her ancestor, Sypha Belnades, and his own son, Trevor Belmont, in another of the earliest battles against Dracula. The same Alucard that had helped Maria Renard save her step-brother, Richter Belmont, from the dark side and single-handedly defeated his own father more than three hundred years later. She knew very little of Alucard after that time. But in all the stories she had heard about him, he had never been one to show intense emotion as he was now.

Alucard noticed that she was staring at him. He quickly, but consciously, gathered himself and walked over to her, his uncharacteristic flash of anger buried deep.

"So you are a descendant of Sypha Belnades," he said in his deep, rich voice.

Kara climbed to her feet, but could do nothing but nod in affirmation.

"You seem to know a good deal about what is going on or you wouldn't be here, but there is much you do not know. We do not have time to discuss anything now, however. As Shaft said, the rebirth of my father is happening. I can feel his presence. We must hurry before...."

At that moment, with a deafening roar, the air above the museum began to ripple and waver.

"...it is too late," Alucard finished, watching the sight before them.

Without Kara noticing, the sky had somehow become filled with looming black clouds. Now the clouds above the museum parted. A large, gothic style castle began to ripple into existence above the museum.

"It begins yet again," Alucard said, "Castlevania has formed every one hundred years for the past half millennium, and now it is materializing yet another time. Come Kara, we must leave this place for now and prepare as best we can. It is too late now to stop Dracula's awakening. Besides, there is someone I think you should meet. We will be returning here shortly though as I have unfinished business with Shaft." The anger flashed briefly as he said this last.

She nodded absently, mesmerized by the spectacle before her. Alucard placed his hands on her shoulders. In a brilliant column of light, the two disappeared.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Come on, Usagi! If you don't hurry up and get ready, you're going to be late!" Luna yelled, struggling to be heard over the muffled screams coming from underneath Usagi's shirt. It didn't help matters that Luna was also carrying Usagi's shoes in her mouth.

"Luna!" Usagi screamed as she tried to get the shirt over her head, "It's not even a school day! Why do I have to get up so early on a day that I don't have to go to school?"

"Because you promised Mamoru you would go with him to the museum today!" Luna tried to calm Usagi down as best as she could, but that was hard to do considering that Luna, too, was in a state of frenzy at the moment. She dropped the shoes at Usagi's feet and leapt up onto the bed. "He called just a few minutes ago and said he would be here soon with the others."

Usagi finally managed to get the shirt on correctly, and began to put on her shoes. "Oooh, I didn't know he wanted to go this early in the morning!"

"Usagi," Luna said, pointing to an imaginary watch on her wrist, "it's 10:45. And I told you last night that he would be here around this time."

"I know what time it is!" Usagi said, starting to get worked up again, "Like I said, why'd we have to go so early in the morning?"

"Ooh, I give up," Luna sighed. "You just better be thankful that he went to get the others first instead of coming to get you. See, he even took into account that you'd probably oversleep, but you're still going to be late after that."

About that time, the doorbell rang.

"Eeek! It's them! Luna, um, go stall them or something until I can get ready!" Usagi began to frantically search for her purse.

"It's right there in the corner of the room," said Luna. "You know. Where it landed when you threw it at me last night after I told you Mamoru would be here about this time."

"I'm so sorry, Luna, I'll never be mean to you again if you'll just keep them all busy until I can get finished up here!"

"Yeah, right. Okay, okay, I'll see what I can do, but I'm not going to make any promises." Luna turned and headed downstairs.

"Usagi's not ready yet," Luna told the waiting group, after making sure that neither of Usagi's parents or her little brother were there.

"Hmmph, what else is new?" Rei said as she flopped down on the sofa.

"Well, you know Usagi," said Artemis as Minako, who was carrying him, Makoto and Ami also sat on the sofa. "She and mornings just don't mix at all."

Mamoru started up the stairs. "Don't worry, this won't take long," he said. He disappeared over the top of the stairs. Then those gathered below heard a loud knocking followed by a door opening and closing.

About a minute later, he came back down. He was carrying a screaming Usagi over his shoulder. "Come on, Usagi. You look just fine," they heard him say over Usagi's loud protests.

He sat her down and turned to the rest of them. "Now everybody's ready to go I guess?"

"We've been ready," said Rei.

"I guess I have no choice but to be ready now," said Usagi. Her voice took on a cheerful tone that was obviously faked. "Well, what are we all sitting around here for? Let's go then." She went out the door. The rest of them just shrugged and followed her. The two moon cats watched as they got into Mamoru's car and then, after the car left, they sighed and went back inside.

* * *

They arrived at the museum about twenty minutes later, Usagi complaining and arguing with Rei the whole way. It was mostly out of habit, though. After talking with Mamoru and the others yesterday, even she had become increasingly interested in going to the museum. She just couldn't resist needling Rei at every possible opportunity, though. Besides, she knew that deep down, Rei actually enjoyed it as much as she did.

Minako pointed and pressed her face to the window. "Look," she said, "There's Seiya, Taiki, and Yaten!"

Makoto looked and said, "Hey, isn't that Haruka and Michiru with them?"

Mamoru found a parking place as close to the museum as he could. As they all climbed out of the car, he noted, "Yeah, it seems they've been getting along great since Usagi stopped Galaxia and Chaos. Seiya must have talked them into coming, I guess. He was as eager to come as I was."

"Hey, Meatball Head!" Seiya yelled when he saw them. Even though he was no longer trying to win Usagi over as a girlfriend, he still called her that. He respected Usagi's relationship with Mamoru. In fact, he and Mamoru had grown to be quite close friends. They had a lot in common it seemed.

Usagi grimaced but waved back. When the two groups joined into one, Minako playfully said to Yaten, "Hey, so where's the huge mob of girls that usually follow you guys around?"

Instead of Yaten, Haruka answered, "Apparently they didn't want to see him in his natural habitat." She was referring to the museum and the Vlad Tepes display inside.

"Ha ha very funny, Haruka," said Yaten flatly. Turning back to Minako, he said, "I guess, since we aren't in the public eye as much anymore, all of our fans ditched us. Oh well, as they say, 'That's showbiz'."

Minako winked at him. "I wouldn't say you've lost _all_ your fans. Isn't that right, Makoto?"

"Yeah, you still have us," Makoto said, grinning. To prove their point, she and Minako both got Yaten between them and put an arm around him. He began to blush a deep red, but he had a big grin on his face. The sight made everyone else crack up too.

"So are you two my, uh, escorts?" Yaten said mischievously.

Haruka put her hand to her mouth and coughed to stop herself from saying anything. Yaten flashed her a dirty look.

"By the way," Ami asked Haruka and Michiru, "where's Hotaru and Setsuna?"

"Hotaru wasn't feeling well this morning," said Michiru, "so Setsuna decided to stay at home with her. Hotaru said if she felt better, they may try to meet us later."

Further discussion was halted when a man dressed in a expensive looking suit met them at the door of the museum.

"Are you here for the Vlad Tepes display?" he said. When they nodded, he continued, "Wonderful. My name is... Professor Shaft. I am the caretaker for the exhibit, and the one leading the tour of the exhibit. As you can see, we are just about to start today's tour, which you may join if you desire." He gestured toward a relatively large group of people standing just inside the entrance.

Mamoru glanced at Usagi and said, "Looks like we just made it in time then."

They went over and joined the other people who were going on the tour.

None of them noticed the strange look that Rei was giving Shaft.

* * *

"And this," Shaft said with an flourish, "is the centerpiece of the exhibit. This is the resting place of the man behind all the stories." He went on to relate various facts and myths about Vlad Tepes.

As he talked, Usagi stifled a yawn and thought to herself, "My, he's quite the story teller isn't he?" Her wandering gaze came to rest on a large, almost life-like, statue of a figure in a black hooded robe that covered up everything but his face and hands. He carried a long, deadly looking scythe. The most remarkable thing about him was the fact that his face and hands were utterly devoid of skin or muscle or any kind of flesh. It was a statue of Death.

"Ugh," she said, "What's that horrible thing doing here?"

Seiya noticed what she was looking at. "Hmm, well, some myths of Dracula say that he was a close friend of the Grim Reaper himself."

"It sure fits in with the rest of the setting," Minako said in a less than enthusiastic tone of voice. "Everything in this whole exhibit has been totally creepy."

"Don't worry," said Yaten, "I won't let any werewolves or vampires put the bite on you, Minako."

"Other than yourself you mean," Haruka quipped under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Hey, I heard that," Yaten said.

"Well, how would somebody become friends with Death," Makoto asked, genuinely curious, "I mean, assuming it was actually possible for Death to be alive, how would you go about meeting him and becoming his pal?" She afforded the statue another glance. "Not that I would want to or anything."

"In other myths of Vlad Tepes, it was said that he practiced alchemy before his death. Some have even said he practiced necromancy," Mamoru said. "Maybe he used these powers to somehow meet and befriend Death."

Taiki looked bored. "None of you actually believe all these myths, I hope. As interesting as they may be, that's all they are. Myths. Legends. Stories. Vampires don't really exist."

"Are you sure?" said Ami. "As much as I would like to agree with you, there was that girl in Chibi-Usa's class that time..."

As they all discussed the probabilities of the existence of vampires, Michiru noticed that Rei had moved somewhat apart from the rest of them. She also noticed that her eyes were glazed over, and she had a 'lost-in-thought' expression on her face. Michiru moved to stand beside Rei and said, "You've been awfully quiet today. Is everything all right? Rei?"

Rei blinked and looked up at Michiru as if she'd just noticed her standing there. "Huh? Uh, no, I'm all right. It's just that ever since I've entered this building and met that man, Shaft, I've had this lingering feeling of darkness."

"Hmm," Michiru said, thoughtful, "do you think he's hiding something?" She had brought forth her mirror while asking this.

Before Rei could answer, they heard Shaft address the tour, "Um, excuse me for a moment, would you please? I've... just been informed of an emergency elsewhere in the museum that must be taken care of immediately. I will return shortly." With that, he left the group, heading toward the front entrance of the museum.

Michiru turned back to Rei. "I don't know," Rei said in reply to Michiru's question, "I can't pinpoint anything, but there's definitely something not right about this whole place... that Shaft guy included." Michiru looked into the mirror for a moment. When she looked back up at Rei, she nodded. She had a grim expression on her face.

The rest of the group had noticed Michiru and Rei standing off to the side and came over to them. Usagi, her voice filled with concern, said, "Rei, are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine, Usagi" Rei said. "I just have a bad feeling about..." Suddenly, she clutched her hands to the sides of her head and dropped to her knees, moaning.

"Sudden... overwhelming evil..." was all they could make out. Michiru was staring intently into her mirror.

They dropped to her side. Usagi put her arms around Rei's shoulders and tried to steady her. She looked back up at the others and said, "Come on, we have to get her out of here!"

Just then, the lights dimmed, and all openings to the outside, including doors and windows, were mysteriously covered.

"What's going on here," Mamoru said as he kneeled down next to Usagi.

"Why I'll be glad to tell you," said a new, unearthly voice. Everyone looked around to find the source. What they saw shocked and terrified them.

The figure of Death that they had thought was just a statue was floating over the coffin of Vlad Tepes. The bright unholy light in his eyes was the only illumination in the room.

"You are about to witness the end of your world as you know it," he said. The coffin of Dracula began to glow brightly. A fine mist began to seep through the seams of the coffin. A low pitched rumble began to rock the building to its foundation. As would be expected under the circumstances, all hell broke loose. People began trying to find a way through the doors that seemed normal but just would not open for some reason.

Usagi looked at her friends as she rose to her feet. "I may not understand what is going on here, but I know an enemy when I see one. Come on, guys! Let's show this skeleton what we do to people who try to end the world! MOON ETERNAL..."

"MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER..."

"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER..."

"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER..."

"URANUS PLANET POWER..."

"NEPTUNE PLANET POWER..."

"FIGHTER STAR POWER..."

"MAKER STAR POWER..."

"HEALER STAR POWER..."

"MAKE UP!!!"

Under the cover of the darkness of the room, the senshi and Tuxedo Kamen transformed. The darkness masked it from the eyes of the other people in the museum, who more than likely wouldn't have cared at the moment anyway. They were too busy trying to force the doors open and fighting with each other to notice.

However not all of them had transformed. Rei was still laying on the floor with her hands clutching her temples. "Nooo..." she moaned, "don't attack... too much power... have to... get out of here... now..."

Death looked at them with interest. "Hmm, most unexpected."

Sailor Uranus looked at Death with fury in her eyes. "I don't know who you think you are, and frankly I don't care! We've dealt with everyone else that has tried to bring ruin to the world, and we'll deal with you too! WORLD SHAKING!!!"

The attack hit Death head on, and the brightness of it in the dark room blinded them momentarily. When they could see again, they saw Death still floating there. Now, however, he was surrounded by a dozen or more floating, spinning sickles.

"Impressive. Worthless, but impressive. I do not have time to play with you now, though. I must prepare this place for the arrival of my..." he looked thoughtful for a moment, "...pal, I think that was the word used."

Two of the sickles flew at Uranus at lightning speed. She tried to dodge, but one of them hit her in the arm, the other in her side. Both left deep, ugly wounds. Uranus hit the ground hard. To the shock of the other senshi, she didn't move after that.

Sailor Mercury and Sailor Neptune ran to her side. Mercury checked for a pulse. "She's still alive, just unconscious. I think we should listen to Rei and get out of here."

Further conversation was interrupted when the wall next to them suddenly exploded inward. Through the hole that was formed walked Sailor Pluto and Sailor Saturn.

Not wasting a second, Sailor Moon yelled to the cowering people, "Everyone, get out of here now!" She turned to the rest of the senshi. "We have to protect them while they escape, but we also have to get Rei and Haruka out of here too!"

Tuxedo Kamen picked up the still moaning Rei and said, "I've got her!"

Sailor Star Healer and Sailor Neptune managed to get Uranus up between them. "Let's get her out of here!" Star Healer yelled as they headed for the hole in the wall.

Suddenly, they noticed that Death was no longer alone. Shaft had appeared at Death's side. His suit had been discarded in favor of a purple hooded cloak.

While trying to usher the hysterical crowd out of the building, Sailor Moon overheard their ensuing conversation.

Death said, "Did you kill the descendant of Sypha?"

Shaft looked down and said, "I wasn't able to finish her because the master's son got in the way."

Death looked at Shaft for a moment, then said, "Alucard is already here then. I sense that the Belmonts are on the move as well, but I have already dispatched servants to handle them. I have no time to waste here, however. Kill these fools as you see fit. I must attend to Dracula." With that, Death moved back to the coffin. He erected some sort of black energy field around the coffin and himself that shielded both from view.

"Let's go, guys," Sailor Moon yelled to the others that had stayed behind with her. She and the others brought up the rear of the group that fled through the hole in the wall.

Shaft looked at the fleeing people and noticed the senshi. "Hmm, seems I'll have some fun today, after all." He began to float toward the hole that led outside as well. The orbs circled around him furiously.

Meanwhile, the senshi had finally gotten everyone out of the museum. Sailor Star Healer and Sailor Mercury laid Uranus on a bench a little ways away from the museum.

Rei, still in Tuxedo Kamen's arms, seemed to be feeling better since leaving the confines of the dark museum. "You know, as much as I'd like to stay in your arms, you can put me down now," she dryly said to a distracted Tuxedo Kamen, "I feel better." When he did so, she also transformed. "MARS CRYSTAL POWER MAKE UP!!!" Again, no one noticed nor cared because they were too busy looking up at dark black clouds that had completely overcast the sky.

"Look up there!" one of the people in the crowd shouted as the police arrived to escort them away from the area.

With a deafening roar, a patch of air above the museum began to waver and crackle. Slowly, a black mass appeared and began to materialize into the shape of a castle. The castle was floating above the museum but began to slowly lower itself toward the museum.

It was then that Shaft emerged from the hole in the museum wall. "Behold!" he yelled, making himself heard above the roar, "the emergence of Castlevania! Soon this world will belong to my..."

"I don't think so!" yelled Sailor Moon in reply, "I hate having to fight like this all of the time, but if it means keeping the world safe from creeps like you, then I'll do it! For love and justice, I am the pretty soldier Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

Shaft looked down at them from his vantage point, annoyed at having his own speech cut off by another. "Let me see if I have this right," he said, "a bunch of kids in sailor suits and black leather and a guy in a tuxedo think that they have the power to defeat the great Shaft, head priest of the cult of Dracula?"

Sailor Mars, recovered fully, said, "I'll show you what power we have!" She pulled out one of her ofuda and yelled, "Akuryou, Taisan!" She threw the ofuda at Shaft. He reached out and caught it as it neared him.

"What sort of nonsense is..." Shaft said as he examined the piece of paper. Suddenly he froze in place. "What is this! I can't move!"

Sailor Mars then yelled, "MARS FLAME SNIPER!" A bow and fiery arrow appeared in her hands. She shot the arrow at Shaft, which missed all of his orbs that attempted to stop it and struck home. Shaft lurched backwards and fell to the ground. Unfortunately, the fire also burned up the ofuda he held in his hand.

"Such power," Shaft said as he looked at the senshi. "Okay, now you've really annoyed me. Werewolf! Minotaur! Gaibon! Slogra! I summon you forth to put an end to these fools that dared to strike me!"

Four points of light appeared high in the sky near the top of the castle. Then they dropped down to Shaft's side and formed into monsters.

One of the lights formed into a blue humanoid wolf with a fiery red mane. Another formed into a humanoid bull carrying a rather large axe. The third morphed into a large blue winged demon. The last one changed into a humanoid creature with a skeletal body and a long beak-like head. In this creature's hands was a large trident.

"Minions of darkness! ATTACK!!" Shaft shouted as he resumed his place floating high above them.

As the monsters began to advance on them, the senshi took up positions protecting Uranus.

The werewolf leapt with astounding agility at the closest target he saw. Unfortunately for him, it happened to be Sailor Jupiter. She grabbed the werewolf by the mane and, using its own momentum, slung it into a nearby wall. As the werewolf lay stunned on the ground, Jupiter suddenly noticed a sharp pain in her arm. She looked down and saw that the monster had left a deep gash in her arm.

"Jupiter, are you okay?" yelled Sailor Neptune, who was the closest to her.

"I'm all right," said Jupiter, shrugging off the blow, "it's just a scratch is all. But let's finish this guy off before he can get back into it. JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!!"

"DEEP SUBMERGE!!" yelled Neptune.

"I'll help too," called Sailor Venus, "VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!!"

The combination of charged leaves, tidal force waves, and glowing hearts were enough to finish the werewolf. It howled in pain before melting into a glowing orb. The orb flew up to join the others flying around Shaft.

The remaining three monsters approached more cautiously. Apparently, the minotaur saw the three senshi as a good target himself. He lowered his horned head and charged at them.

Neptune and Jupiter were able to move in time, but Venus wasn't as lucky. The horns missed her but the sheer force of the attack sent her flying through the air. Neptune and Jupiter rushed to her side to make sure she was all right.

"Hey, horn head! Over here!" Tuxedo Kamen yelled. He threw a barrage of roses at the minotaur. Although all of them struck, they only served to anger the bull. He turned and rushed at Tuxedo Kamen, meaning to trample him into the ground. With a flourish of his cape, Tuxedo Kamen deftly leapt over the minotaur and out of the way.

The minotaur looked around and seeing Sailor Mercury as the next closest target, brought his axe down. She dodged it easily, however, and the axe became lodged in the concrete sidewalk. The beast struggled to dislodge his weapon.

"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!" yelled Sailor Mercury. The attack hit the minotaur and washed him back into the other two oncoming monsters. They threw him off and back toward Mercury.

"I've got him!!" yelled Sailor Moon. "SILVER MOON CRYSTAL POWER KISS!!"

The minotaur survived the attack for all of maybe one second before melting down into a pulsating orb. It too joined the others around Shaft.

Gaibon and Slogra were the last two remaining monsters. They looked at each other and, in unspoken agreement, attacked together. Gaibon took to the air and picked Slogra up with his clawed feet. He flew directly over the senshi and dropped Slogra.

Slogra, aiming his trident straight down, fell swiftly toward the senshi, Sailor Saturn in particular.

"SILENCE WALL!!" yelled Saturn as Slogra continued to fall toward her. Slogra hit the field that appeared in his path and bounced to the ground. He roared in anger, pointed his trident at her and fired a series of fireballs from it. All of them were absorbed by the shield.

Giving up on attacking Saturn, Slogra turned to Pluto who was nearby. He lowered his pointed beak, extended his trident at her, and began to rush her in a sudden burst of speed.

Pluto merely stood her ground as the creature approached her. She whispered, "Dead Scream." The power of the purple surge of energy slammed into the Slogra, knocking him from his feet.

Turning his back on Sailor Saturn turned out to be the Slogra's undoing. As he got to his feet, he was still stunned. Saturn simply walked up behind him and impaled him through the back with the Silence Glaive. While the Glaive was inside of Slogra she sent a surge of energy into him. The Slogra shrieked in agony, then he too melted down into another orb for Shaft.

Meanwhile, Gaibon was flying around, nimbly dodging roses that Tuxedo Kamen was throwing at him. He opened his mouth and returned fire with a rapid stream of fireballs. Tuxedo Kamen was hard pressed to dodge them or block them all with his cane. One of them got through and knocked him to the ground.

The Sailor Star Lights appeared at Tuxedo Kamen's side and helped him to his feet. "Let's show this thing what we're made of," said Sailor Star Fighter as they prepared to attack.

"STAR SERIOUS LASER!!"

"STAR GENTLE UTERUS!!"

"STAR SENSITIVE INFERNO!!"

The three attacks, as well as several more roses from Tuxedo Kamen, found their mark. The Gaibon was knocked to the ground. He climbed to his feet and, with a howl of rage, began to change. His color changed from blue to red. He leapt back into the air and sent a solid stream of fire at Tuxedo Kamen and the Star Lights.

"I think all we did was piss it off," said Star Maker as they dodged the intense flames.

The Gaibon flew high into the air, only to drop to the ground seconds later with such force that it caused a small earthquake. As the senshi fell to the ground from the force of the quake, debris from a nearby building began to fall upon them.

"Earthquake, huh?" said Sailor Saturn. She got to her feet using the Glaive for support. She looked at the Gaibon for a moment, who was still on the ground, and yelled "SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!!" She dropped the end of the Glaive on the ground causing a wave of energy to fly from it with extreme force. It all converged on the Gaibon, leaving destruction in its wake. He tried to dodge but had nowhere to dodge. Needless to say, he became yet another orb in Shaft's collection.

Shaft continued to float there watching the battle. When all four of his monsters were defeated, he looked at the senshi. All of them, including Venus who by then was back on her feet, showed no sign of being hurt too badly. Even Uranus was awake and staring at Shaft defiantly.

"So you have some semblance of power after all. You still have me to deal with, however."

"No, Shaft, it is you who must deal with _me_," said a deep voice from above the senshi and Shaft.

They all looked toward the source of the voice. On the roof of one of the nearby buildings stood three beings. One was a noble looking man wearing armor, and holding a sword and a shield. To his left was a woman in a white hooded robe and carrying a wooden staff. To his right was a man that looked somewhat like a pirate. He had on ragged looking pants, and a bandanna wrapped around his head, but was wearing neither shirt nor shoes. This man was absently tossing a dagger up and down.

Shaft looked from one to the other with apparent disinterest. "Hmm, maybe now we can have round three Alucard. I see you've brought that worthless Belnades girl. And, pray tell, is that actually Grant DaNasty I see up there? I thought the master took care of him long ago."

The pirate mumbled, "Heh, you should be so lucky."

"Luck has nothing to do with it, I'm afraid," Shaft said. He had several dozen orbs floating around him by this time and all of them began to move at a increased pace. "I suppose it is left to me to get rid of you all."

While watching this new development, Sailor Moon whispered to Tuxedo Kamen, "Alucard? He's one of the people Shaft and that Grim Reaper guy were talking about awhile ago. They said he was the son of Dracula... does that means he's also an enemy?"

"I don't know," replied Tuxedo Kamen, "but from what I see going on here I don't think so."

The one called Grant snorted at Shaft derisively, "You couldn't even beat Richter or Alucard when they were by themselves. How do you possibly think you stand a chance against all of us together? Seems to me like you and old Vlad bit off more than you could chew attacking this place, what with those guys down there just making short work of your four monsters."

"So they defeated them," Shaft replied. "That means nothing to me. There's plenty more that are much stronger than those four... not that I will need any help to defeat you. Enough chit chat! Prepare to die, all of you!"

The orbs began to fly in all directions toward both the senshi and the three newcomers.

"Heads up, guys!" yelled Sailor Star Fighter as she leapt over a flash of electricity that was arcing between two of the orbs headed for her.

Alucard, Kara, and Grant began to move. Kara levitated and began to float to ground level. Grant leapt from the roof and bounced from building to building until he reached the ground. Alucard merely jumped and, after free-falling several stories, landed on his feet in front of Shaft.

"Shaft, you bastard, I will make you pay for what you've done," Alucard said as he brandished his sword and shield threateningly.

"I really don't think so, Alucard. You see, when I last faced you, I was under strict orders from the master not to kill you in hopes that he could bring you back to him. Now, however, I am under no such edict. Oh, and do say hello to Maria for me when you meet her shortly in the hereafter. Yahahahaha!!!" Shaft sent four of the orbs hurtling at Alucard, fire shooting from two of them and lightning arcing between the other two.

Alucard disappeared in a column of light. The column of light then moved swiftly behind Shaft. Alucard reappeared with his sword hand holding his cape open. Two large, perfectly spherical, black and red balls of lava flew from his cape toward Shaft.

At the same moment, Grant leapt directly over top of Shaft. He let fly with three daggers. Kara sent shards of ice at the dark priest.

Sailor Moon noticed their simultaneous attack and said, "I think that's our cue. Okay, guys, let's hit him with everything we've got!!"

The senshi each cut loose with their most powerful attacks at Shaft. When the activity died down, all that was left of Shaft was a broken body lying moaning on the ground.

Alucard walked up to Shaft. He looked down at him and said, "Now, I shall have my revenge for what you have done to my family." Before anyone could stop him, or even say anything, Alucard plunged the sword deep into Shaft's chest. He left the sword there for several seconds before pulling it out and sheathing it. He then turned to face the shocked sailor senshi, ignoring the dead body of Shaft.

"It was unfortunate that you had to see that," he said. "But what is done is done. My name is Alucard. When you overheard Shaft and Death, you heard correctly. I am indeed the son of Dracula. It is not, however, a relationship I am proud of. Let me introduce you to my companions. This is Kara Belnades." He motioned to the woman in the cloak, who nodded. "And this is Grant... DaNasty." He apparently had trouble saying the last name.

"DaNasty?" said Sailor Moon.

Grant smiled and said, "Well, actually, my name is... was Danesti. However, when Dracula killed me and left me in this cursed form, I felt that name was more... um... appropriate? It's something of a bitter inside joke. That is what I go by now."

After Sailor Moon got over the surprise of talking with a man who claimed to be dead, she went on to introduce herself and her companions. After that was over and done with, she looked at Alucard intently. "Okay, now that we are all acquainted with one another, could you please explain to all of us just what in the world is going on here?"

Alucard said, "That is a long story I'm afraid. But there's time for that later. Your friend is injured." He motioned to Sailor Uranus who, though no longer unconscious, was still lying on the bench while Mercury looked at her wounds.

"Is there somewhere nearby that we can go to talk and get your friend treated?" Kara asked.

Mars nodded and said, "The shrine where I live is not too far from here."

Sailor Moon went to Tuxedo Kamen's side and said ruefully, "I guess this means we're not going to the movies today after all, huh?"

Tuxedo Kamen smiled and shook his head as they gathered up Uranus and went to Hikawa Shrine.

* * *

"Most interesting. It appears we have more than simply my son or the Belmonts to have to contend with this time," Dracula said as he watched the aftermath of the battle through a window inside of Castlevania.

"Worry not, my friend," said Death from behind him. "I have sent servants to intercept the Belmonts. As for Alucard's new allies, I have been watching them and I think I have already found a weakness that we can exploit."

"Their sense of loyalties to one another. Yes I see that too. We need but to capture one of them and bring her over to our side. Then we will have a weapon that we can use against them. A weapon that they will be loathe to retaliate against. That girl who attacked Shaft to begin with, what was her name?" Dracula said as he watched Alucard, Grant, Kara, and the sailor senshi leave.

"Sailor Mars," Death answered.

"Sailor Mars. Hino Rei. She was able to give Shaft pause by herself with that little paper thing. Also, she was able to sense our presence even before my awakening began. Yes, she will do most nicely. I want her brought here at the first possible opportunity."

"It is unfortunate what happened to Shaft," Death said, "as he was a valuable tool."

"Shaft was a fool," Dracula replied. "He should not have done what he did to my son. For that, he got what was coming to him. My son may fight for the side of light, but Shaft pushed him too far. You are right though, he was a valuable pawn. But I'll have another to take his place soon enough." An image of Sailor Mars shooting her fiery arrow into Shaft appeared in the window.

"Then again," Death said, "I am the Grim Reaper, after all. I will go and bring his body back up here and see what I can do with it."

Dracula smiled at his companion as he floated out of the window, obscuring the image.


	4. Chapter 3

Author's Notes: This is a rather long chapter, most (but not all) of which is the background of the Belmont family for those Moonies unfamiliar with the Castlevania games. I have elaborated some of the less developed aspects of storyline of these games, though, as well as thrown in a few of my own plot ideas. On the whole, however, I tried to stay true to the overall Castlevania plot.

* * *

**Chapter Three**

Jan sat staring out of the window of the 747 on which he, Sinclair, and Emmett were traveling to Tokyo. What he saw when he looked out was not wispy clouds or blue oceans, however. Instead, he saw the events of the day before reflected in the window. Just to his left, his father was watching a baseball game, and to Sinclair's left, Emmett was asleep.

His father and grandfather had been amazed at just how quickly he had taken to the arts of vampire slaying. Each time they had given him one of the Belmont family's mystic weapons, he had demonstrated a near mastery of it within moments. He couldn't explain it himself. It just seemed to come naturally to him, as if he had been doing it his whole life.

Some of the weapons were rather mundane in Jan's opinion. There was the throwing dagger that they had given to him first. This was simple to use. It was basically the same as the throwing knives he had practiced with in his martial arts class.

The next was a throwing axe. It had taken him a few moments to get the hang of throwing it at an arc like his grandfather showed him. It had taken a few moments more to actually hit the target dummy they had set up for him in Sinclair's garage.

Then there was the boomerang weapon that was shaped like a cross. Despite its rather unusual shape, it was just like any other boomerang that Jan had ever thrown. Actually trying to attack a moving target with it would probably prove a bit more of a challenge, though he had been able to easily hit the dummy after a few initial tries.

This was when the weapons began to get more unusual. The next weapon they had given him was a vial of water. His father had explained that it was holy water in the vial, and for him to toss it onto the ground a little ways in front of him. Jan did so and had been surprised when the vial broke open to produce a small wave of blue flames that spread away from him before disappearing.

Then came the really strange weapons. The next one was a small piece of crystal. All they told him to do with it was to throw it. When he did he instinctively ducked for cover as the crystal ricocheted off the walls several times before disappearing. Emmett had told him not to worry as the crystal would only harm creatures of evil.

Next they had given him a handful of some kind of powder or ashes. They called it the "Bibuti." There was nothing to master with this weapon. He simply had to throw it upon the ground in front of him and any evil being that touched it would be burned.

Then they gave him a stop watch. This wasn't actually a weapon, but it was a really cool and useful thing in Jan's opinion. Essentially, when he used it, all creatures of darkness would stop in their tracks for several seconds, or so his grandfather told him. He couldn't actually test it since, quite fortunately, there had not been any creatures of darkness there at that particular moment.

The next item he had been give was a book. This was no ordinary book however. It wasn't meant to be read. Instead, when the appropriate mystical force was applied to it, it would begin to circle around its owner and shield him temporarily from damage.

The last weapon he was given had to be the coolest by far, in Jan's opinion. He couldn't really tell what it was but when he used it, a small, needle thin bolt of purple light shot from his hands toward the practice dummy. When the light made contact with the dummy, a bolt of lightning left Jan's hand and crashed into the dummy, shattering it into several pieces. "What's this one called?" he had asked. They said it was called the "Agunea."

Then his grandfather had handed him several wooden tokens in the shape of the various weapons he had just practiced with. It was explained to him that with the tokens, he had the ability to call the weapons to hand, pretty much out of thin air. However it took energy to do this they had told him, and to use the weapons recklessly would tire him out.

Next they had told him about what they called "weapon crashes." All they told him was that if he concentrated and applied a rather large amount of mental energy on each of the weapons, then he would be able to do remarkable feats with them. They hadn't wanted him to try it there because it would have tired him out and he needed to save his strength for the real battles ahead. They told him that when the time came he would know what he needed to do to make the crashes work. He already knew of the effects of the powerful crashes from the stories he had been told as a child by his grandfather.

Since these weapons used his own energy to wield, they had told him that most of the time he should rely on the Vampire Killer. That's when they had brought out another weapon, a spear that they said had belonged to his great grandfather John Morris's friend Eric Lecarde. When the time had come to train Emmett in the ways of the Belmonts, Eric had given the spear to him as he had no children of his own. Thus the Alcarde Spear had been in the Belmont family ever since. Jan had practiced with it for a while. He had been somewhat surprised when the spear had doubled in length and developed a blue flame around its business end when he took it. Emmett told him that it shared many of the same mystical properties that the Vampire Killer possessed.

He turned to his father who was still watching the ball game and started to say something to his father when he was suddenly blinded by an overwhelmingly bright light that filled the plane. He brought his hands up to his eyes and tried to protect them from the light. During the explosion of light, he felt a strange pulling sensation but it quickly passed. After several moments, the light faded away as well.

When Jan could see again, he was shocked to see that his father and grandfather were not there. He stood up and looked around. Everyone in the cabin had vanished. Jan ran toward the front of the plane.

Everyone in the first class area was gone as well. He reluctantly opened the cockpit doors to see that the pilot and co-pilot had also disappeared.

"What in the world's going on here," Jan thought to himself, pushing back the sense of dread that was rising up in him.

That's when he saw through the cockpit windows a gigantic dragon rise from the clouds and head toward the jet. Suddenly, it belched out a huge fireball that slammed into the front of the jet, destroying the cockpit. Fortunately, Jan had seen it coming and had ducked back into the first class area.

"What am I going to do now?!" Jan thought to himself as the 747 shuddered around him. In front of him materialized several skeletons.

Jan reached down for the Vampire Killer, only to realize that it and the Alcarde Spear were still safely tucked away in duffel bags in the cargo area. "Just great!" he said as some of the skeletons began to advance toward him. The others rushed out of the room and headed toward the back.

"I've got to get the Vampire Killer and the Alcarde Spear!" he thought to himself. The jet shook again as another of the dragon's fireballs slammed into it. A huge hole appeared in the side of the plane and things began to get sucked out. Miraculously, Jan wasn't affected by the roaring decompression that was pulling everything from paper to the very seats out of the plane. He didn't have time to wonder at this since unfortunately, the skeletons were not affected either.

Although he did not have either the Vampire Killer or the Alcarde Spear, he did have the tokens that allowed him to call forth the other mystic weapons of the Belmont family. He opened his hand and summoned the cross boomerang to it. He threw with all of his might at the oncoming enemies. The boomerang sailed around the small room and decapitated all of the skeletons. They all exploded, sending bones flying in all directions.

Jan caught the boomerang, and it disappeared. He ran by the remains of the skeletons, which were fading into nothingness, to follow those that ran to the back of the plane.

When he got back to his own compartment, he saw the skeletons standing there. Apparently they had made a trip to the cargo area because one of them was holding the Vampire Killer and the other was holding the Alcarde Spear.

"Dammit!" Jan cursed. Before the skeletons could react, Jan rushed at the one that was carrying the Alcarde Spear. When he got close, he jumped up and over the skeleton just as it stabbed with the spear. While in the air, he grabbed the Alcarde Spear and simultaneously kicked the skeleton in the back. The skeleton lost his grip on the spear. Jan landed and swung the spear at the skeleton in the manner of a bo staff such as he had trained with in martial arts class. The skeleton exploded like the previous ones had.

Jan stood and faced the two remaining skeletons, one of whom was holding the Vampire Killer. Jan called forth the crystal weapon and tossed it in the direction of the unarmed skeleton. The crystal hit him, shattering him. The one holding the Vampire Killer dodged the crystal at the last second as it rebounded off of the wall. It then swung the Vampire Killer at Jan. Jan leapt over the whip as it hurled toward him, then he extended the business end of the Alcarde Spear toward the skeleton, impaling him through the chest. It exploded, and Jan caught the Vampire Killer.

"Thank goodness for small favors," he said to himself. "Those skeletons were pretty pathetic." Then the plane shook from another hit from the dragon. The fireball must have hit a wing this time, because the jet began to slowly rotate. "It's a wonder it's still in the air," Jan thought to himself.

He made his way toward the front of the plane again, trying to figure out a way to deal with the dragon along the way. When he got to the front, he could see the dragon clearly out of the hole in the side of the plane.

"I wonder why I haven't been sucked out of the plane, or can even still breathe," Jan said. "Must be some kind of weird Belmont family magic. Well, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. I have to get off of this plane though, and that dragon looks like the only option."

He converted the Vampire Killer to a morning star whip as his grandfather had taught him to, and without another moments hesitation, slung it at the dragon. It encircled one of the dragon's horns. Before Jan could react further, the dragon jerked its head. Jan found himself flying through the hole and out of the plane. Jan closed his eyes and bit his lip to keep from screaming as he fell out of the plane. As he had hoped, he landed on the dragon's back.

He wasn't alone. He looked behind him as the dragon began to fly away from the doomed 747 and saw another rider. There was a skeleton much larger than the others. It was carrying a sword and shield and had horns sticking out of its head.

The skeleton brought the sword down hard. Jan managed to move and the sword dug into the dragon's back. The dragon roared in pain and began to fly erratically, trying to throw off whatever it was that had hurt it. It was all Jan could do to hold on to the Vampire Killer that was still attached to the dragon's horn. This skeleton seemed smarter than the others since it quickly sheathed its sword and held on for its own safety.

When the pain in the dragon's back subsided, it turned toward the jet and flung another fireball at it. This one hit a fuel line, putting the 747 out of its misery finally. Jan watched as the jet exploded into little more than a flaming chunk of molten metal and began its descent into the Pacific Ocean.

Apparently the dragon didn't care that Jan was still on its back as it turned and began to fly away. The skeleton eyed Jan angrily but did not attempt to attack him again. "Hopefully, he will take me to Castlevania," Jan thought. "That's the only place I can think of that he could have come from. And hopefully, I'll be able to find my father and everyone else there." He fought back tears as he thought of his father and grandfather. "I'll save you if I can," he said to no one in particular. "For now, I guess I can do nothing but enjoy the ride. At least the dragon is flying in the same direction as our jet was..." Finally, the reality of the situation struck him with the force of a mallet. He shook his head and muttered, "Here I am, on the back of a dragon, soaring at about fifty thousand feet and heading toward Japan. Not even in the wildest stories my grandfather told me did anything like this happen. This is just too unreal..."

* * *

"Really, I'm fine, let me go," Uranus said as she struggled slightly against Sailors Star Healer and Jupiter, who were trying to help her get situated on a pallet that Mars had brought from her bedroom. She immediately regretted it because she felt a sudden sharp pain in her side. Reluctantly, she laid down on the pallet.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you could see those wounds from this angle," Jupiter said as she sat down in a chair next to Uranus, exhausted.

"Yeah, well, that's a pretty nasty gash you have on your arm there, yourself," Uranus shot back.

Mercury overheard that as she came into the room with some first aid supplies. "She's right, Makoto. You ought to let me look at that when I get done with Haruka."

"Come on, it's just a scratch. I'll be okay." Jupiter protested.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you could see it from this angle," said Uranus in the exact same manner that Jupiter had used earlier.

Jupiter gave her a sideways glance and then said to Mercury, "All right. I'll wait in here until you can bandage it up but as soon as you do, I'm going back out there with the others. I want to know what's going on as much as anyone else."

"That goes for me also," said Uranus. "As soon as you patch me up, I'm going back out there." Mercury looked at them both with a "Why do I even bother?" look and began to work on Uranus.

As Sailor Star Healer walked out of the room, she passed Michiru who was coming in. At Michiru's worried look, Star Healer said, "Don't worry about Haruka. There's nothing wrong with her a good kick in the seat of the pants wouldn't cure."

"I heard that, you little twerp!" Haruka called angrily.

"See," said Star Healer as she left the room. She stopped at the door, stuck her tongue out at Uranus, then quickly made her exit.

"I'll make you eat that thing!" Uranus yelled after her.

Michiru sat down on the pallet next to Uranus. "Oh Haruka, you know you don't mean that," she said, amused.

"Wanna bet?" seethed Uranus. When she got a look at the expression on Michiru's face, she lost her anger and smiled at her.

"Hey, Michiru," said Jupiter, trying to change the subject, "why are you no longer transformed?"

Michiru looked up at Jupiter, her gaze was serious. "I don't know how, but that Alucard person saw right through it. It's like he can see the same things with just his eyes that I'd have to use my mirror to see. It was futile to remain transformed after that."

"Do you sense anything evil about those three?" asked Mercury, as she finished up with Uranus.

Michiru looked into her mirror as if searching. After a minute or so, she said, "No. They have been sincere in what they have said so far. Of course they haven't said all that much. Rei hasn't sensed anything out of them either. Usagi wanted Alucard to wait until you guys got finished in here so that we would all be there. Don't worry, I'll be keeping an eye on them while they tell their story."

Soon, Mercury was finished with putting a bandage and ointment on Jupiter's cut. They de-henshined and followed Michiru back into the fire room of the shrine where the others waited.

* * *

"Okay," said Usagi when she saw Michiru, Haruka, Ami, and Makoto walk out of the other room. "We're all here now. Please tell us what's going on now, Alucard."

"This is a rather long story, but I think it best that you hear it to know the true nature of what is invading this land," Alucard began. He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts, then continued:

"As you may already know, about five hundred years ago, a man named Vlad III Draculea ruled the region of Wallachia in Romania. That man was my father. He was a sadistic, iron-fisted ruler. He was not above employing the most vile means at his disposal to do what he felt needed to be done. He had thousands of his enemies, whether real or imagined, tortured in many different ways. Some of them may have deserved it. Most did not. His favored method was impaling. It earned him the title 'Tepes.' During an attack by the Ottoman Turks, an attack in which my father was gravely outnumbered, he was struck down."

Taiki broke in at this point, "Not to be rude or anything here, but you were right when you said we already knew this. We heard all of this at the museum today. Besides that, some of us already knew most of it even before that. I don't see how it relates to our current situation."

Alucard afforded Taiki with a gaze that would have frozen flame solid before he continued, "Very well. What he did in his life is not important to the events of today. It is only the prelude to the greater horrors soon to come. Soon after my father's death, he came to me. Needless to say, I was surprised to see my father as I had heard that he had been beheaded while fighting the Turks. He told me of the great power that he had gained upon his death. He explained that he was now more than human. He was above them. He was going to use his extraordinary power to rule them as he never could in life. He also said that he wanted me at his side. I had no idea what was in store for me at the time so I accepted his offer."

He paused again, and Setsuna spoke, "And so you became like him. You became a vampire."

"Yes," Alucard continued, "That's when I became what you see before you. However, for reasons known only to my father, he did not make me a full vampire. I still possess human traits. Perhaps it was the influence my mother had on him before she was... But I digress. For months we resided in my father's old castle in the mountains near the city of Tirgoviste. While he gathered power and followers, I roamed the countryside. I saw the world with new eyes. It was during my travels that I met Sonia Belmont."

Usagi interrupted him, "Belmont! I overheard Death and Shaft talking about the Belmonts. They said that the Belmonts were on the way but that Death had sent servants to take care of them."

Kara spoke up for the first time since she had met them, in less than perfect Japanese. "We must hope that these servants fail since the Belmonts are strong allies on the side of light."

"Indeed, the Belmonts are the most powerful vampire hunters in history," Alucard continued his story. "At the time I met Sonia, however, their legacy had not yet begun. She lived with her grandfather who was a relatively experienced vampire hunter himself. He taught her everything he knew, but she had not had an opportunity to use her skills... until she met me. One night, while I was out traveling the land, I came upon a small cabin miles away from the closest town. I heard the sounds of exercise as I got closer. While perched in a tree, I saw her practicing..."

* * *

Yet another piece of firewood was shattered by the whip Sonia was practicing with. Obeying her grandfather, she practiced faithfully every evening the skills he had taught her: the skills to hunt down and kill vampires. As of yet, she had never seen a vampire. She doubted that she ever would either. Despite how tedious and repetitive she felt it to be, she moved to set up another piece of wood on which to practice.

Suddenly, she felt a presence in the trees above her. It was just like her grandfather had warned her. Acting on instinct, she withdrew a dagger and threw it at a shadowy figure up in a tree. She was shocked when the figure caught the dagger by the blade when it was a mere inch away from its left eye. The figure leapt down from the tree.

"I believe this belongs to you," said Alucard, offering the dagger to Sonia handle first.

"You... you're..." Sonia started.

"Vampire? Yes, I am a vampire. Do not worry, though. I mean you no harm. I was merely watching you from the tree there."

Sonia took three steps back and readied her whip. "Back, creature of evil! I have trained since I was very young to destroy your kind!"

Suddenly, before she could even blink, Alucard was behind her, his hands resting lightly upon her shoulders. She heard him say in an amused tone, "Apparently, you need to train a bit more. If I were trying to kill you, you would have been dead long ago. I've been watching you for over an hour now."

Sonia looked at him, crestfallen. "I don't believe it. After training my whole life to be able to kill a vampire, I finally meet one. And what does he do? Belittles me and tells me I've wasted my time. Go ahead, do what you will to me as I obviously can't do anything to stop you."

"I did not mean it that way," Alucard said. "I haven't the slightest intention of harming you. You have the makings of a fine vampire slayer. One day, you'll make a name for yourself."

"That sounds really strange coming from a vampire," Sonia said. Then she got a strange look in her eyes. "Wait a minute, you look very familiar to me. Aren't you the son of the viovode that was killed recently?"

"Yes, I am," Alucard said, sighing. "My father was Vlad III. Forgive my rudeness, but I have not even introduced myself. My name is Adrian." He took her hand and brought it to his lips.

Sonia was charmed despite the surreal nature of the situation. "Under the circumstances, it's understandable why you didn't introduce yourself earlier. My name is Sonia Belmont."

"Sonia," Alucard repeated. "That is a lovely name for a lovely woman. How did you get into the vile business of vampire slaying anyway?"

Sonia was quickly beginning to forget that Alucard was indeed a vampire himself while she was talking to him. "Well, my grandfather is a vampire hunter also. That's where he is now, in fact. He heard rumors of a new vampire taking residence in the castle in the mountains and went to look into them." This brought a strange look to Alucard's eyes, but Sonia didn't notice it. "He probably won't be back here for several days at least." She shivered suddenly. It was getting cold outside.

"You're shivering," Alucard said, taking off his coat. He draped it over her shoulders.

"I got a late start on my training for tonight. I really should be getting back inside and tend to the fire before it goes out." She looked at Alucard, all but forgetting what he was. "Would you like to come in as well? You'll catch cold without your coat."

Alucard smiled and said, "I rather doubt that will happen, but I will take you up on your offer nonetheless." He followed her into the house.

* * *

Alucard had a faraway look in his eyes as he told the story.

"So, what did you do then?" asked Minako, smiling.

"Minako!" admonished Yaten. However, he wanted to hear the answer, too.

This brought Alucard out of his reverie. "That will be made clear later," Alucard said with a faint smile on his lips. Grant was smiling openly while the rest of them looked somewhat at a loss.

Haruka said impatiently, "That was a lovely story and all, but what does it have to do with anything?"

Alucard resumed his cold expression and said, "As I said, it will be made clear soon. While I was with Sonia, my father had business of his own to take care of. He had found Sonia's grandfather, who was indeed searching the area around our castle. Unfortunately, he wasn't as forgiving as I was with Sonia. When I left her the next morning..."

"Wait a minute," interrupted Makoto, "I thought vampires couldn't go out in the daylight."

"You've seen too many old horror movies," said Grant. "Don't worry, I've seen quite a few myself. Some of them contain a bit of truth actually." At the looks he received, he said, "What? I may have been dead for the past half millennium but that doesn't mean I don't keep up with the times." This earned him more looks of incredulity. He just shrugged and motioned for Alucard to continue.

"Unlike the contemporary myths surrounding vampires, sunlight affects us no more than it affects you except for a slight weakening of our powers," Alucard said, addressing Makoto. He continued again, "As I was saying, when I left her the next morning and returned to the castle, I was met by the sight of an old man impaled upon a spike just outside the castle walls."

"Her grandfather...?" asked Usagi, horrified.

Alucard nodded. "He was the first of my father's many victims in his new life, if you can call it that. Those who did not join him suffered a similar fate... or worse. I could sense the hostility toward my father and myself growing with each passing day, yet none dared to directly challenge us... except for Sonia Belmont. I watched her entire trek as she battled her way across the land toward our castle and defeated the various evil creatures that my father had created. I faced her myself at one point. I decided to test her. If she could defeat me, I would let her pass. If not, I would let her return as she would have no chance of defeating my father. I could tell that she had definitely improved her skills as we fought. She defeated me quite handily, actually, as I too was still relatively young as a vampire myself. Although she had no desire to harm me, she was burning to avenge her grandfather. I felt it was wrong to deny her the chance so I let her pass. She went on to defeat my father as well."

"If Sonia Belmont beat him then," Ami asked confusedly, "how is it that he is here now?"

Alucard shook his head and continued, "As you will soon see, my father has a remarkable ability to recoup his losses and come back relentlessly. Soon after Sonia's victory, I went back to her cabin. However, I did not find her there. I found out from the closest village she had been banished from the land because many feared her and her abilities."

Rei interrupted him at this and said angrily, "Well, that's just stupid! Didn't they even care that she'd just saved them all? I would figure that she'd be praised as a hero, not treated as an outcast."

"Never underestimate the powers of an fearful, ignorant mob," Alucard said simply. "Upon looking back, I feel that my father probably played a hand in that. I took to roaming the countryside again, as I no longer had anywhere else to go. I detested the sight of the castle and had no desire to live there any longer. Several years later, my father was resurrected by several of the misguided humans who had joined him earlier. Again, I was called to his side. And again, my father gathered servants to him and loosed hellish creatures on the land. By this time, I was becoming more disillusioned with my father and his plans. The people found a champion in Trevor Belmont, the son of Sonia. However, unlike Sonia, I sensed vampiric blood in him." He paused to let this sink in.

"You mean..." Minako began.

"Yep," Grant said, winking at Alucard. "It was Alucard's own son come to beat old Vlad."

"Yes, it was the son born from that one night I was with Sonia. He possessed great power that even his mother did not. However, when he reached me, he was not alone. With him was a powerful sorcerer named Sypha Belnades, also a vampire hunter."

Everyone turned their eyes to Kara at this. "Sypha was my many times great grandmother," was all she said, as she averted her eyes. She disliked being around such a large group of relative strangers.

Alucard continued, "She had attempted to attack our fortress herself and had been turned to stone by the Medusa. Her statue was placed in the realm of the Cyclops. When Trevor defeated the Cyclops, he freed Sypha, who gladly joined him in his quest. Also with my son was a ghost of a former Wallachian viovode that had unfortunately been cursed by my father." He stopped again, his gaze turned upon Grant.

"Yeah, believe it or not, I was once nobility," Grant said. "I was the viovode that succeeded old Vlad. However, I didn't get to enjoy even a full week. My first edict as viovode had been to take down all of those horrid impalement victims and give them a proper burial. I'm pretty sure that this is what ticked Vlad off. Well, that and the old feud... Anyway, he appeared to me one night and, after killing me of course, cursed me to this form and made me the rather unwilling guardian of his clock tower. What is it with Vlad and clock towers? Every time Castlevania reappears it always has a clock tower." He shrugged off the stares he was receiving and said, "Well, anyway, I fought against Trevor at first, but after I let him beat me," he winked as he said this, "I decided to join him against Vlad."

Alucard continued his narrative, "After defeating many of my father's guardians, they reached my abode. At first, I felt compelled to test the fighting skills of my son as I had his mother before. He, too, passed the test by defeating me in combat. I decided then that my father had to be stopped. I joined this band of adventurers and we went on to defeat my father. Upon his defeat, he entered what was to be the first of his century long hibernations. I decided that the world would be a better place without me and my tainted blood as well. Despite the protests of the others, I went to a sanctuary known only to me. I, too, entered what was to be a three hundred year sleep. I know little of my father's exploits during that time. Maybe Grant or Kara can better fill you in."

Kara gestured to Grant, as she had no desire to talk at any length. Her uncomfortable gaze caught that of Seiya as she glanced around the room. He seemed to have a look of understanding in his eyes, though she wasn't sure. Nonetheless, she felt slightly better.

Grant was perfectly content to take up the story. "Well, after Alucard went off to where ever it was that he went off to, a couple of things happened immediately that might be important. One of them was that Trevor and Sypha fell in love and got married. The other was that I felt myself getting weaker after the battle with Vlad. I think it was some effect of the curse that he had put upon me. Although I could not actively participate in the events to come, I could still watch at least. And watch I did, believe me.

"As Alucard said, that was the first of the several one hundred year rests that Vlad was condemned to. When he returned, he had added a second objective to his overall plan. Not only was he determined to take over the known world, he was also determined to get revenge on the Belmont family for what they'd done to him before.

"This time, the Belmont family member who wound up facing Vlad was named Simon. He had just been married to a nice girl named Linda Entwhistle when Vlad decided to make his move. His plan to avenge himself on Simon was to kidnap Linda. As you might guess, this only drove Simon to follow Vlad and beat him down. He defeated him, but not before Vlad placed a curse on Simon and had Linda sent elsewhere.

"It wasn't long before the curse began to work on Simon. He learned that to end the curse, he had to find the body parts of old Vlad that had been scattered across the countryside as per Vlad's orders. He then had to recombine them and kill Vlad for good when he fought him again. He accomplished this, and also saved his bride to boot. That was the last Simon saw of Vlad, but that wasn't the end of him.

"After yet another hundred years of rest, old Vlad came back again. This time the Belmont was a man named Christopher. This time, though, the Belmonts were ready for him. As soon as Vlad made his reappearance known, Christopher set off to defeat him, which he did.

"Or at least he thought he did. Some fifteen years later, the Belmonts held a ceremony for Christopher's son Soleiyu, who was to be the next vampire hunter. On the night of the celebration, Vlad, who had merely fled the previous battle after causing Castlevania to destroy itself, came at them yet again. This time, he brought Soleiyu under his influence and created four mystic castles with his ever growing powers. Christopher had to defeat these four castle guardians before Castlevania itself reformed. On his way to Vlad, Christopher had to fight and defeat his own son. Upon his defeat, Soleiyu overcame the possession and went on to help his father defeat Vlad for... what is this, the sixth time now?

"Anyway, after another hundred year sleep, Vlad was at it again. This time, he had a bit of help. A dark priest named Shaft, whom you've already had the misfortune of meeting, went into the village in which the next Belmont lived, a guy by the name of Richter. Shaft kidnapped four of the village girls. One of them was Annette Renard, Richter's girlfriend, and another of them was Maria Renard, Annette's little sister. The other two were Iris, daughter of the town doctor, and Tara, a nun at the town church. True to form, Richter rose to the challenge and defeated Vlad and rescued the girls along the way. In fact, Maria, even though she was only twelve years old at the time, aided Richter in defeating him. You'd think old Vlad would learn someday, wouldn't you?"

At the blank stares he received from the senshi, and Kara as well, he said in a mock hurt tone of voice, "I wasn't that stifling was I? Well, I guess I'll turn it back over to Alucard then. This was about the time that you came back anyway, am I right Alucard?"

Alucard nodded and said, "Yes, this was when I sensed that there was something amiss with the balance between the dark and the light. This was four years after Richter's victory over Shaft and my father. However, I could feel my father's presence even through my centuries long sleep. Unlike all the other times, though, I could feel no counterbalancing force of good to combat his evil. I awoke from my sleep to find out what was wrong.

"It was then that I saw that Castlevania had indeed reappeared in much the same way it came into being today. As I began my journey through my old home, I encountered Maria Renard, Richter's sister-in-law now that he and Annette had been married. She told me that she was looking for Richter who had disappeared, and that since Castlevania had come into being it was where she suspected he was.

"It turned out that she was right. In my travels, I encountered Richter himself. To my shock however, he proclaimed himself to be the lord of the castle, and bid two of Dracula's servants, the werewolf and the minotaur, to battle me. I knew something was wrong, obviously. I met up with Maria several more times after that battle, during which we overcame our mistrust of each other and came to know each other quite well. However, I will speak more on this later.

"During one of our last meetings inside Castlevania, she gave me a pair of mystic glasses that she had found that would allow me to see whatever evil influence had taken control of her brother-in-law. When next I encountered Richter, who decided to battle me himself that time, I put on the glasses. I saw a demonic presence floating over Richter, which I proceeded to attack. Soon, I broke the hold on him, and Shaft revealed himself to be the one who was controlling Richter.

"After I bade Richter and Maria leave the castle, I entered a strange inverted version of the castle that had mysteriously appeared over the original. It was here that I finally encountered Shaft and my father again. After a hard fought battle, I succeeded in condemning my father to another hundred years of sleep."

At this point, Alucard paused. Kara and the senshi were shocked to notice a single tear sliding down from his eye. Grant was looking down at the floor.

"It was what happened in the years after my father's defeat that I will never forget..."

* * *

"Farewell then. We'll not meet again."

This was the last thing that Alucard said to the pair standing on the cliff overlooking the remains of Castlevania before he took his leave of them. He could hear Maria calling his name, but he did not look back.

It was when she began to follow him that he slowed down. He allowed her to catch up to him, despite his better judgment.

"Alucard," she said, "you don't have to go back there."

"I must atone," was all he said in reply.

"For what?" Maria said, "What have you done that requires you to punish yourself as you plan to do? What I saw during my journey in Castlevania was a man that cared deeply about doing what he felt was right, even if in doing that he had to do something that was painful. Not only did you save Richter from the dark side, you also had to defeat your own father to do it. That had to require a great belief in what is right. I saw..."

"Enough," Alucard said darkly. "While I appreciate what you are saying, you cannot possibly begin to understand what..."

"Yes," Maria interrupted, "on that count you are exactly right. I don't understand at all why you are doing this to yourself. Alucard, I don't want you to do this thing you plan to do. Please. If not for yourself, then for me. Alucard, I love you and I don't want to lose you after what we've been through together..." She trailed off as she realized what she had just said. She looked down at her feet.

Alucard said nothing. He merely studied her intently.

"I'm sorry," Maria began. "I don't know what I'm..."

Alucard put his finger on her lips. "Do not speak right now." He continued to gaze at her. "Funny, how I never noticed it before," he thought, "but, despite her youth, she has all of the qualities that drew me to Sonia... and then some... Can it be? Do I really have to return to my slumber?"

Maria could not even begin to sense what Alucard was thinking. She flushed unconsciously under the intense stare that he was subjecting her to. On his face was the same cold expression that he always wore.

She reached up and took his hand from her lips, and said, "You must think me a fool. I'm sorry..."

"No," Alucard said softly, still holding her hand. "I am the one that should be apologizing."

She looked up into his eyes with a curious expression on her face.

"How could I have been so blind before," Alucard thought. "She is extraordinarily beautiful. Not only that, but her spirit is one full of courage and goodness. Love... I would not have thought it possible for one such as myself after what I have endured."

Maria began to speak again, but Alucard silenced her again... this time with a soft kiss. Maria's eyes widened as she returned the kiss. She took a half step back and, still holding Alucard's hand, said, "Does this mean...?"

Alucard took her other hand, and kissed her again in reply.

* * *

"I must say again, congratulations," Richter said, as he and Alucard made their way back toward the village in which they both lived now. They had heard stories of werewolves attacking a town several miles away and had gone to investigate. Upon reaching the town, they had handily defeated the werewolves and saved the town from their plight.

"So, how is little Adrian reacting to the fact that he has a sister now?" Richter said, elbowing Alucard as they walked.

Alucard, who had been much less somber in the three years since he and Maria had married, said, "As well as can be expected. He wanted so badly to have a little brother to pick on."

"Ha! Well, he always has Alicia to pick on if he wants to," Richter said, referring to his daughter.

"Now, that is not fair," Alucard retorted, good-naturedly. "Alicia is two years older than Adrian. And a girl herself, I might add."

"So?" Richter replied in turn. "You're... let's see... at least three hundred years older than me, correct? That doesn't stop me from picking on you, now does it? Of course, it's strange to be picking on my many times great grandfather though. And you and Maria pick on each other, too, from what I gather. And you can't deny that she, too, is a girl."

Alucard just gave him a wry look as they neared the village.

That was when they both noticed something strange in the air. The acrid scent of smoke was wafting through the air from the direction of the village. Looking above the treeline, Richter pointed and said, "Look there. Do you see it? Only a very large fire could make that much smoke."

"RICHTER!! ALUCARD!!" a voice screamed from a short distance in front of them. Richter ran up to his wife, Annette, and grabbed her as she ran from the forest toward them.

"Richter! Something terrible is happening... that horrid man who took us for Dracula has returned... attacked Maria and the kids..." Annette fainted at this, partly from the shock of running such a long way and partly from the atrocities she had witnessed.

Richter turned to Alucard and started to say something, but all he saw was a column of light fading away in Alucard's place. He picked up Annette and began to move as quickly as he could toward the village.

Alucard reappeared in front of his home from where he had teleported. What he saw froze his soul. The house in which he, Maria, and their two children lived was totally gone. In its place was a pile of smoking embers. His family was nowhere to be seen, but he knew in his heart that they were gone. He noticed a pack of torch carrying warg riders in the distance moving away. He started to give chase when he heard a voice behind him call his name. He recognized the voice instantly and had his sword in his hand in seconds.

He turned to face the floating figure of Shaft. Shaft had his arms crossed and a smug expression on his face. "It was unfortunate that you had to go off and kill those werewolves. After all, they were only blindly doing what I commanded them to do. Had you been here, you quite possibly might have been able to save your family. It's quite a tragedy actually."

"WHY?!" Alucard screamed in rage. "Why have you done this?!"

"Don't be stupid Alucard," Shaft mocked. "She played as much a part in the master's defeat as you and that fool Richter did. More so, in that she came between you and your true destiny at the side of the master. Her... love," Shaft spat this word, "for you clouded your mind against the master. If you had returned to your slumber, it would have been easier for the master to regain his hold over you. Because of her, you did not return to your sleep. For that she had to die, which she did. I had hoped to take out the Belmont next, but it appears that you have the distinct honor of being the next to die."

"AAARRGGHH!!!" Alucard screamed as he leapt at Shaft. In his fury, he had focused his attention solely upon Shaft. As such, he did not see the three mystic orbs that slammed into him from behind. Shaft lowered himself toward the dazed Alucard and delivered a vicious kick to the chin.

"Come now, Alucard," Shaft sneered. "You are making this much too easy for me." He drew a long, ritualistic dagger from beneath his cloak and moved toward Alucard. Before Alucard could react, Shaft was behind him with the dagger to his throat. Alucard managed to get his arm between his throat and Shaft's own hand. They struggled against each other but Alucard was on the losing end. The dagger inched closer to its destination.

A voice called out from the distance, "HYDRO STORM!!" In the split second that Shaft was distracted, Alucard elbowed him in the chest and pushed away from him.

They both turned to see Richter throw a vial of holy water high into the air, which disappeared. In its place, white low-hanging clouds formed. Holy water began to rain down from the clouds, covering the surrounding area and having several effects on what it fell upon. The remaining fires died out. Alucard felt his strength returning. And Shaft howled in agony.

"Shaft, you bastard dog!" Alucard yelled at him as he got to his feet. "You shall burn in hell for what you have done, and I shall personally see to your journey there!"

Despite the incredible pain that he was in from the falling holy water, Shaft managed an evil smile. "Not in this lifetime, Alucard, not in this lifetime." At this, he began to fade away. His last words before disappearing completely were: "Rest assured that we will meet again, Alucard."

Alucard dropped the sword at his feet, then dropped to his knees next to it. As he looked painfully at the charred remains of what was to have been his new life with Maria, Richter and Annette came up behind him.

"Alucard..." began Annette, before she broke down completely into tears. She turned and ran away, back toward the house in which she and Richter lived. When Richter started to follow her, she merely shook her head and gestured at Alucard, then continued on.

Richter walked over next to Alucard and knelt down beside him. "Alucard," he said, staring intently at the sword that lay on the ground in front of them, "I..." He could think of nothing to say that would lessen Alucard's pain, nor his own.

"He will pay," Alucard said solemnly and in such a quiet tone that Richter almost didn't hear him. "The next time that we meet, I will take my sword and plunge it into his black heart. Now, however, I must rest."

Richter looked over at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I am returning to my slumber as I should have to begin with. I was the one that defeated my father. Because she fell in love with me, Shaft killed her. He said so. Had I returned to my sleep, she would still be alive today."

Richter shook his head sadly. "Alucard, Maria helped me defeat Dracula before you even awoke. She was as much an enemy of the darkness as you or I. I can't help but think that it would not have made a difference. At least you gave her happiness in the last few years of her life. Do not regret what you shared, my friend. Besides, I heard what Shaft said myself. What if you had returned to your slumber and Dracula had somehow regained his control over you? I can't possibly imagine you attempting to harm Maria, but if Dracula had won control of you..."

"My father... he has not changed in the least," Alucard said, his voice growing in anger. "I thought I might have made a difference with my last words to him, but it appears I was wrong if he would go so far as to send that dog to perform such a horrible deed as this..."

"Dracula played no part in this," a new voice said from above them. Alucard and Richter looked up sharply to see Death floating above the smoking ruins of the house. They both rose to their feet. Alucard picked up his sword as Richter readied the Vampire Killer. When they took one step toward Death, he merely raised his hand. They suddenly found that they could not move another inch toward him.

"I am not here in my capacity as companion of your father, Alucard," Death said, in a voice that was not quite as cold as it usually was.

"Then why are you here?" Richter shouted angrily.

Death afforded Richter with his gaze for a moment before looking back at Alucard. "Shaft acted of his own accord in this. Dracula is in no frame of mind to do this or even sanction Shaft to do it. In fact, he had told Shaft that you were not to be harmed. I am here, unfortunately, to perform the duty that I have performed for countless ages. Though we have been enemies in the past, I know that this is horrible for you to have to endure. It should not have happened. It was not her time to go, but it is too late for me to do anything about that now. I am here to take her, and your two children to what comes beyond. Rest easy in the knowledge that they will go where they are meant to be."

Alucard and Richter looked at Death blankly as he began to fade away. "Why are you doing this?" Alucard asked. "Saying these things?"

Death said again, "I merely wished to tell you that it was not the bidding of your father that brought this about. I have done what I have come to do. When next we meet, it shall be as enemies once more." Death vanished from sight, his work done.

Alucard and Richter merely stood there, staring at the dying coals.

* * *

Alucard slowly scanned the room after finishing this tale. There was not a pair of dry eyes in the room, his own included.

Though his soul ached from reliving that horrible time, he was not yet finished in relating the full history of his father. "I took my leave of Richter and Annette after that. I never saw either of them again. However, I did not return to my slumber as I had planned to do. Instead, I resumed my aimless wanderings of the world for the next century. In my travels, I encountered Grant, who was on the verge of disappearing from this realm completely. With his consent, I revitalized his fading form back to its former state, and we journeyed the world together."

Grant put his hand on Alucard's shoulder. "I'm glad you found me when you did. Because of you, I have a chance to make a difference again."

"I learned later that Richter's daughter Alicia had married a man by the name of Michael Schneider. This man, too, was an accomplished hunter of vampires himself. They had a son whom they named Reinhardt. Michael told his son repeatedly that some day he may have to fight the darkness. Those were his dying words to young Reinhardt, in fact. For ten years after that, Reinhardt trained diligently, much as his ancestor Sonia was doing that night I met her. During the tenth year of his training, Castlevania reappeared. His father's last words came true.

"A woman named Actrise lived in this period. She was a witch. In order to enhance her powers, she killed her own child with her own hand. In concert with Death, this evil woman helped to restore Dracula to life, in exchange for even greater power.

"Reinhardt was not alone in his quest to destroy Dracula and his allies. A twelve year old girl named Carrie Fernandez aided him in his journey. This girl was a member of the same family as Sypha Belnades and as such commanded a powerful magic. But as simple people are prone to do, again with the probable influence of my father acting in the background, they feared Carrie's power. Her foster mother tried to protect her from a demon that attacked them one day, but she was killed. The shock of this unlocked Carrie's full potential and she destroyed the demon with her power. With no regrets in life, Carrie bravely joined Reinhardt and together they entered the castle.

"Along the way, they encountered Death and Actrise. They also encountered a female vampire named Rosa, who hated her own tainted blood. Carrie also had to face a Fernandez girl that had been captured and made into a vampire by my father. But even then, they were not by themselves. An aged vampire hunter named Charlie Vincent was also roaming the castle in search of Dracula. They also encountered a young boy named Malus. At first, Malus seemed an innocent youth. However, after defeating what they thought was my father, they saw Malus riding a black winged unicorn. He revealed himself to be my father reborn as a young man. Despite all these hardships, with the aid of Vincent they defeated my father and even saved the soul of the vampire Rosa, who later married Reinhardt."

Alucard paused for a moment, then started speaking again, "The next time my father returned to this realm was rather well documented. I assume that you are familiar with the novel 'Dracula' written by Bram Stoker?" All of the gathered senshi nodded, though only a few of them had actually read it.

Grant said, "Despite its surprisingly accurate account of Vlad's continuing schemes, the book was passed off as fiction by the world. Of course, many omissions were made."

"Everything that occurred in the novel is faithful to what actually occurred," Alucard said. "Neither myself nor Grant felt it necessary to intervene as the Belmont descendant of that generation, one Quincey Morris, whose father had married the daughter of Reinhardt and Rosa, and his companions had things relatively under control. My father was yet again defeated again, although at the cost of Quincey's life.

"Approximately twenty years after this incident, Dracula was unexpectedly resurrected. A woman named Elizabeth Bartley, my cousin and also a vampire, was the one that brought about his awakening. I felt Shaft's presence there as well, though he never made an appearance. It was Quincey's son John Morris and his friend Eric Lecarde that set out to stop Elizabeth's plans. While they battled the minions of my father, Grant and I devised a plan that we hoped would stop my father for good. Upon John and Eric's victory over Elizabeth and my father, we approached them with our plan, which required their aid to be successful. We took my father's casket, which contained his essence, and placed it within the sanctuary that had been known only to me up to that point. Then, using all of our powers to the fullest, we placed a powerful ward upon the sanctuary that we thought would keep him imprisoned."

"Quite obviously," Grant said, "we were wrong." He looked around the room at the senshi who, despite their interest in this account of the history of Dracula, were showing signs of fatigue.

Mamoru said, "Well, you guys obviously have a good grasp of what is going on here, so what should we do now?"

"I think it best," Alucard said, "that we wait until the Belmonts arrive here. I sense that they are still on the way here, despite Death's attempts to stop them. In the meantime, I would be most interested to hear your story."

Even though she wasn't as weary as the rest of them after the events of the day, Setsuna said, "It is quite a long story itself. I think we should all take a break first."

Usagi piped up at this, "That's a great idea! I haven't eaten anything since... well, it's been so long I can't even remember."

As the others agreed with this, they began to look toward Makoto. She said, "Okay, I'll whip up something for everyone. Hey, Rei, what kind of stuff do you have here?"

Rei shook her head and said, "I don't really have much of anything here, at least not enough to feed this many at once."

"Oh well," Makoto said, "I'll just run to the store and get something simple to make. How does pizza sound, you guys?" At this, all of the senshi and Kara murmured their approval. To the other two guests Makoto said, "How about you? Do you need anything?"

"I'm dead, remember? I don't need to eat," Grant replied, simply. Makoto looked at him oddly for a second, shrugged, then turned to Alucard.

Alucard shook his head and said, "I do not require anything at this time. I will feed on my own when the time comes." At the weird looks he got from the others, he added, "Don't worry. I do not, and have never, fed upon humans."

"Well, uh, that's great," Makoto said somewhat nervously as she headed for the door. "I guess it's pizza then. I'll be back in a little while, you guys."

As she exited the room, she could hear Usagi beginning the story of the Silver Millennium.

* * *

Makoto walked down the street toward the local grocery store. By this time, it was nearing sunset. She frowned as she gazed upon the castle that loomed in the distance.

"I can't wait until we can go in there and get rid of them," she said to herself. Upon reaching the store, she went inside and began to gather the things she needed to make the pizza.

* * *

"Oooh, it was fine when we were flying over the ocean," Jan thought, "but these buildings whizzing by are getting to me... I've got to stop this dragon and soon."

He called a dagger to his hand. Inching his way forward along the Vampire Killer, he prepared to thrust the dagger into the dragon's neck.

* * *

"Thank you," Makoto said to the store clerk. "No, I can get it by myself." She picked up the bags containing the pizza ingredients and walked out of the store.

* * *

The dragon began to drop rapidly, as blood spewed from the deep wound Jan had inflicted in its neck.

* * *

Makoto began the trip back to Rei's shrine. Suddenly, she heard a thunderous roar from high above her. Looking up, she was shocked to see what looked like a dragon falling toward her.

It passed over her head and slammed into a nearby building with a deafening crash.

* * *

Jan picked himself up off the ground groggily. He performed a quick self examination and determined that nothing was broken. In the distance, he saw a girl in a sailor fuku running toward him, waving her arms wildly and pointing at him. Or was she pointing behind him? Before he could think on it much, he felt something very hard slam him from behind.

* * *

Sailor Jupiter, who had quickly transformed and stashed the bags in a safe place, winced as the large skeleton hit the boy squarely in the back with its shield. As it stood over him and raised the sword over its head, the boy began to rise to his feet again.

* * *

"...the hell?" Jan said. He turned around in time to see a sword slicing the air toward his head. In the next instant, something slammed him from the side. Yet again, he found himself lying on the ground.

This time, however, the girl that he had seen a few seconds before was lying on top of him.

"Daijobu desu ka?" she said to him. He stared at her blankly for a couple of seconds before realizing she was speaking to him in Japanese. "Makes sense, though, considering I'm in Japan and all. It's a good thing I took three years of Japanese in high school," he thought to himself.

* * *

"What am I thinking? He's looks American, he probably doesn't understand me," Jupiter thought. Switching to English, a language she was by no means fluent in, she said, "How... are you?"

She felt a flush of relief, and a bit of confusion when the boy smiled wanly and said, "I'm fine, and you?" Then she was somewhat surprised when he said, "Nihongo de wakarimasu yo."

Switching back to Japanese, she started to ask him what was going on, when his eyes widened and he looked over her shoulder.

* * *

Jan flinched as the girl was knocked off of him by the skeleton. It began to advance upon her. "Okay," Jan muttered, "I'm getting about sick of you."

He climbed to his feet and reached for the Alcarde Spear, since the Vampire Killer was still attached to the horns of the dead dragon. It wasn't strapped to his back as he expected it to be. He looked toward the dragon and saw it laying next to it.

"Dammit, I don't have time to get it or the Vampire Killer! He's going to kill her if I don't do something quick," he thought.

* * *

Jupiter looked up at the skeleton, who had the tip of its sword at her throat. It raised the sword slightly and prepared to bring it down, when suddenly a flash of lightning hit it in the side, knocking it away from her.

Incredulously, Jupiter watched as the boy held his hand up. A thin beam of purple light shot from his hand toward the skeleton. When it connected, another blast of lightning flew from the boy's hand into the skeleton.

"I wonder if..." Jupiter thought, as she rose to her feet.

"Can't let him have all the fun, though," she said. "SUPREME THUNDER!"

* * *

This time, it was Jan's turn to watch in shock as the girl shot a blast of lightning from her own hands at the skeleton. He stood there for a second, staring at her, then shook his head and ran for the dead dragon. He retrieved both the Alcarde Spear and the Vampire Killer.

* * *

"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" Jupiter yelled, sending her most powerful attack at the skeleton. Although it knocked the skeleton to the ground, the attack didn't destroy it.

"I'm gonna need some help to take this thing out," she said, starting to contact the others on her communicator.

That's when she saw the boy running toward the skeleton. Strapped to his back was a wicked looking spear, and in his hands was a flaming whip.

Her communicator forgotten, Jupiter watched as the boy and the skeleton fought.

* * *

"Now that I have my main weapons back," Jan thought, "this shouldn't take long. Besides, it's already weak."

As the skeleton stood up again, Jan slung the whip at it. The whip struck the skeleton in the chest.

The skeleton screamed in pain for a second, before it slowly melted away into a glowing orb.

"Hmm?" Jan thought. "This seems somewhat familiar." He walked over to the orb and picked it up. As he studied it, it began to melt. He absorbed the remains of the orb into himself and felt his energy return to him. He coiled up the Vampire Killer and placed it on his belt.

He looked up when he noticed the girl walking toward him. Now that the battle was over, he was able to actually _notice_ her.

"Wow..." he thought to himself.

* * *

Jupiter thought to herself as she walked toward the boy, "He must be one of the Belmonts that Alucard was talking about." When she noticed him smiling at her slightly, she began to blush. "Not only that, but he looks like my old boyfriend," she added to herself silently.

"Um, I know this is really a strange way to meet," the boy said, "but I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Janus Morris, but everyone calls me Jan."

Jupiter thought to herself, "I was right. Well, since he's the one we are supposed to be waiting for, I guess he's going to find out anyway, so..."

She said, "Hi, my name is Sailor Jupiter, but..." at this she lost her transformation "...everyone calls me Makoto."

Jan blinked as the she went from wearing the sailor fuku to wearing a pair of brown overalls and a green sweater. "Um, I think I just missed something here," he said.

"Ah... we've been waiting for you," Makoto said, smiling. She motioned for him to follow her as she went to where she had hid the bags.

"Um, okay," Jan said. "Who's we?"

"That's a long story," Makoto said, picking up the bags. She then began to head back toward Rei's shrine. As Jan walked beside her, Makoto said, "Well, there's my friends who you'll meet soon. Then there are three people whom we just met today, but I think you'll recognize them. Have you ever heard of a... man named Alucard?"

Jan got a weird expression on his face. "Alucard? Is here? Sure, I've heard of him! I mean I've heard stories of him... but..." He ran both hands through his hair. "Wow, this is way too much."

Makoto couldn't help but giggle at the look on Jan's face. "I'm sorry," she said.

Jan laughed himself and said, "Don't worry about it. Whoo, this has been some day, though."

They continued to talk as they walked toward the Hikawa shrine.

* * *

In the shrine, Usagi was in the middle of telling the story of the Dark Moon family. Although she was telling it for the benefit of Alucard and his companions, Seiya, Yaten, and Taiki were also listening intently as this was their first time hearing it too.

That was when Makoto came back in with somebody following her.

"Hey, guys, you'll never guess who I met on the way back from the store," she said, motioning to Jan who was standing shyly in the doorway.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Dracula gazed out the window at the sprawling city that stretched as far as the eye could see. All who lived in this land, no the entire world, would soon become his willing slaves. Either that, or he would be _very_ well fed for centuries to come, depending upon how vigorously they chose to resist his control.

He looked over his shoulder at Death, who was making preparations for the ritual that would revive Shaft.

As Dracula continued to stare out the window, the image of Sailor Mars appeared again. Death looked up at it, then at Dracula. Dracula nodded, and Death nodded in return. He completed his preparations for the black ceremony that would resurrect the dark priest. Then, leaving the ritual itself unfinished, Death left the room.

The ritual itself would take time to complete. And Death had another task to attend to at the moment.

* * *

People either screamed or stared in silent, open-mouthed horror at the sight looming before them. A gargantuan sphere composed of rotting corpses was floating through the city from the direction of the dark castle. As it traveled along, many of these corpses fell from the sphere and began to attack anything that moved. Atop the hideous thing, Death floated silently.

* * *

"Guys, you'd better listen to this," said Rei as she carried a small radio out from Yuuichiro's room. She hoped he wouldn't mind. Especially since he probably wouldn't even find out as he and her grandfather were off on a trip together. She'd wanted to go but her grandfather had said it was a guy thing. Shrugging to herself, she sat the radio on a table in the middle of the room and plugged it in.

"...don't quite know what to make of this! A floating mass of dead bodies is slowly moving down the street!" came a frantic voice from the radio.

Minako quickly dropped the slice of pizza she had been about to eat. "That's... lovely," she said, sticking her tongue out in disgust.

The radio continued, "Police are barricading the area and helping to evacuate those that have been attacked. A dark robed figure atop the ball of bodies seems to be controlling it. Where are the Sailor Senshi? Maybe they can deal with this monster as they have in the past!"

"What is this thing?" said Usagi as she and the other senshi prepared to transform.

"Granfalloon," said Alucard. "I fought it during my search for Richter. A particularly disturbing creature that uses the dead as a shield. To fight this creature, we must first break away this shield to strike at the core of the creature."

"Ok, sounds simple enough," said Haruka, "let's go." The others seemed slightly less eager to fight corpses.

"Granfalloon is one thing," replied Grant, "but Death is a whole other kettle of fish."

Haruka started to say something again, but Alucard interrupted her, "I shall deal with him myself."

"Ok, then that leaves the dead thing for us, doesn't it?" said Usagi. "Let's go, guys!"

* * *

The sheer size of the creature was staggering. Bodies were falling from the core creature and, after dropping three or four stories, were landing on roofs of buildings up to ten stories tall.

The senshi and the others stared at the thing and at the hundreds of dead bodies that were slowly making their way toward them.

Even Alucard was given momentary pause. "Hmm, this creature is slightly larger than the Granfalloon that I fought before." He began to scan the buildings for the best route to the top of the creature. Choosing his path, he began to ascend. Within seconds, he was little more than a speck in the distance.

"How are we going to stop this thing?" said Sailor Venus, still stunned by the huge size of the thing.

Tuxedo Kamen readied a rose and said, "Alucard said that the only way to defeat this creature was to attack the core."

"But what about them?" said Jupiter, pointing to the army of bodies.

Jan called up his throwing dagger and said, "I'll try to hold them off as well as I can. The rest of you go after the middle." He turned toward the oncoming horde and thought to himself, "I hope my training pays off." He threw a dagger into one of the bodies. Upon contact with the dagger, the body disappeared in a burst of flame. Judging the effect satisfactory, he smiled grimly back at the others.

The others watched him doubtfully for a moment, but Jan wasn't done yet. He let out a yell and suddenly his arms were moving in a blur. Daggers were flying from him as if he were firing them from a machine gun.

However, even the dagger crash would not be enough to stop the rush completely.

"Need some help?" Tuxedo Kamen asked rhetorically, moving next to Jan. With that, he tossed a rose at the wall of bodies moving forward to crush them. Soon, he was throwing roses at almost the same rate that Jan was throwing his daggers.

"Good job, guys!" said Sailor Moon. "Ok, let's break through that disgusting barrier and get rid of this thing once and for all. STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!!"

The creature howled in anger as the attack sliced off a portion of the wall of the dead that was protecting it. The bodies fell from the wound and then began to attack the Senshi. Through the hole in the barrier, a large tentacle was exposed. On the end of this was a large bulb. Suddenly, the bulb opened and a white hot beam of energy lanced out at the cause of its pain.

Sailor Moon saw it coming and leapt out of the way, but the sheer force of the blast striking the ground next to her sent her sprawling.

"Sailor Moon, are you all right?!" shouted Saturn, who rushed to her side. She conjured up a wall of energy that blocked the next blast from the creature.

"Yeah," replied Sailor Moon, "just a little shaken. Alucard didn't tell us it could do that!" As she regained her feet, she saw that the others had succeeded in breaking off more of the evil barrier. As more and more of the bodies were removed, more and more energy spitting tentacles were revealed.

Sailor Venus leapt aside in surprise as several bodies fell from above and landed near her. They had apparently leapt from the roofs of buildings and had thus gotten past Jan and Tuxedo Kamen. Before she could react, the bodies exploded as lightning bolts slammed into them. Venus turned and, expecting to see Sailor Jupiter, was surprised to see Kara standing there pointing her staff towards her. She grinned and gave the V hand sign to Kara, and Kara nodded back, smiling slightly from beneath her hood. Then they both turned to rejoin in the attack on the body wall.

Finally, when enough of the bodies were destroyed, the vulnerable core of the Granfalloon was exposed.

Grant bounced against several walls in his attempt to reach the height of the core of the monster. A gigantic eye opened on the core and stared at him.

"Big mistake," said Grant as he loosed a trio of throwing axes at the open eye. The axes hit their mark and the creature writhed in agony. Weakened, it began to sink to the ground and within reach of the others.

The creature brought to bear all of its power on the senshi who had gathered around Sailor Moon and Saturn. The beams raced towards them only to cascade off of a Silence Wall at the last second.

While Sailor Saturn held back the energy beams of the Granfalloon, the others got into position to finish off the creature.

"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!!"

"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!!"

"SILVER MOON CRYSTAL POWER KISS!!"

"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!"

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!!"

"DEEP SUBMERGE!!"

"WORLD SHAKING!!"

"DEAD SCREAM!!"

"STAR SERIOUS LASER!!"

"STAR GENTLE UTERUS!!"

"STAR SENSITIVE INFERNO!!"

These attacks in combination with a stream of pure magical energy from Kara struck the creature dead center. In the throes of death the Granfalloon began releasing vast amounts of energy. Nearby buildings began to buckle beneath the strain. Only Saturn's Silence Wall kept the senshi and their friends from feeling the force of the assault.

Finally, the creature hit the ground, causing minor tremors as it thrashed about. It began to dissolve and was absorbed into the ground. Within minutes it, along with the entire horde of bodies that had been its shield, were gone completely.

Since it seemed the threat was gone, Sailor Saturn dissipated the Silence Wall. Sailor Moon walked over to where Jan and Tuxedo Kamen were sitting back to back on the sidewalk. They were exhausted from having to hold back the dead soldiers while the others dealt with the core creature.

"I guess that takes care of that," said Sailor Moon. She helped Tuxedo Kamen to his feet while Sailor Jupiter did likewise for Jan. They started back to Rei's shrine.

"Wait," said Jan, bringing them all to a halt, "where's Alucard?"

* * *

Alucard stood on top of the closest building to Granfalloon that he could find. He glanced downward and saw the senshi fighting the creature from below. To him they looked like ants. Looking upward, he saw him.

"Ah, Alucard," said Death from atop the large sphere of dead bodies. "Do be careful up here. I would hate to see you fall."

"You must realize that you do not stand a chance against all of us," said Alucard. He risked a glance downward, then returned his gaze to Death. "Even now, your Granfalloon is on the verge of being destroyed as you stand there."

"Yes, this is a rather unreliable creature," said Death, floating down from the disintegrating Granfalloon to join Alucard on the rooftop. "But it was meant to be more of a distraction than anything serious. It will have served its purpose. I must simply make sure that you are not able to interfere with my plan."

Suddenly, without warning, he let loose with a powerful fireball. As the fireball engulfed the surprised Alucard, Death glided down from the rooftop.

While not enough to really hurt him, the fireball did delay Alucard enough for Death to leave him far behind. When he had finally cleared away the flames from himself, several minutes had passed. He rushed to the edge of the roof and look over. Death was nowhere to be seen. In a column of light, he disappeared.

* * *

Death floated slowly downward toward his prey. He was in no hurry. The only being possibly capable of stopping him was Dracula's son, and he was currently in no condition to be a hindrance.

Belnades and DaNasty were of no consequence to Death. They were merely a nuisance to him. Little more.

Belmont could prove a threat to him in the future, but as of yet he was untested in true battle, and only recently trained in the Belmont family arts.

These Sailor Senshi, however, proved an enigma to Death. He sensed great power in them, yet there was much about them he would not be able to gauge without closer examination. Soon, though, he would have ample opportunity to find out all of their secrets. No wonder Dracula was so interested in them.

Seeing his quarry, he faded into the shadows and drew close to them.

Soon he was close enough to be able to grab his target and be gone before they could react, if he chose to. However, Death was not one to hide from anyone.

Drawing back, he revealed himself to them.

He felt amusement as he watched the varied expressions on the faces of his victim and her companions. Ranging from rage in the one he had toyed with earlier to... what was this?... fear? And in the one that seemed to be the leader of the bunch as well. Most interesting.

The aqua haired companion of the one whom he had injured earlier looked at him with a mixture of anger and concern. These two were willing to die for each other. Hmm, maybe he would grant them that very soon.

The tall girl with the brown ponytails was staring at him with fury. She seemed almost ready to attack him as he merely floated there. He would have to keep his eye on her.

The girl with the red bow in her blonde hair watched him warily. She could not have been able to hide her disgust at him even if she had wanted to. He could also sense a trace of fear in her as well, though she covered it well.

The blue haired one didn't even look at him. She was busy studying a small computer, while one of the ones in black leather looked over her shoulder. Ah, they were trying to probe him for weaknesses. He let them probe him for a few seconds more before he cloaked himself in a field of darkness, making himself totally unreadable to them. Ha, now they looked up at him. He gazed at them for a second before turning his head slightly.

He regarded the other two in black leather. These three were most interesting indeed. The one with the nearly white hair regarded him almost haughtily, but Death knew that it was just a front. The other one took a protective stance behind the one he judged was the leader.

Next to her stood the boy in the tuxedo. His expression was hidden behind the mask he wore covering his eyes, but Death could see his jaw set in determination. He, too, took up a guarded position near the leader of the group.

The leader herself was an open book to Death. Still, while she was obviously afraid of him, he could sense near incalculable power from within her. He would have to be wary of her as well.

The tall one with the long green hair and her young companion with the glaive were the greatest mystery to him. Their power rivaled that of the leader. The tall one's expression was unreadable while the smaller girl looked at him with curiosity tinged with something darker. Still, these two would prove an interesting challenge as well. Senshi of Death indeed... he would test her abilities soon enough.

The face of Belnades was hidden behind the hood of the cloak she wore, but Death could sense that she was very unsure of herself. Until she mastered her power, she would remain nothing more than a nuisance to him.

Death barely deigned the pirate ghost a glance. As he expected, a sideways grin was on DaNasty's face as he tossed a dagger up and down. Death regretted not taking his soul long ago, but his time would come very soon.

Belmont was something of an enigma to him as well. While he had very little training or experience, Death judged that he would be a worthy foe indeed. He noted the frown that the boy was wearing as he looked at Death.

And finally, there was his quarry. She was looking at him with a mixture of anger and caution. Death saw her ready one of the little ofuda that she had earlier used on Shaft. Death laughed to himself.

Enough of this. He raised his hand, stared directly at his victim and said, "I come for the one called Sailor Mars. She will be coming with me."

Eyes glanced toward his prey, then back at him.

"Over my dead body," muttered the one with the ponytails. So, she was the first to challenge him. He had expected the one he had toyed with to be the first to speak out. He was sure that she hadn't expected him to hear though. And he was also sure that had she thought about what she was saying, she would not have worded it quite that way.

Death struggled hard to keep from laughing. Despite himself, he chuckled a little as he said, "You haven't, by any chance, forgotten to whom it is you happen to be speaking have you, girl?"

Without waiting for a reply, he clenched his raised hand into a fist. With satisfaction, he saw the girl's eyes widen then glaze over. Her hands clutched at her chest as she sank to her knees.

Her companions were instantly in action. His quarry threw her amusing little paper at him. With his free hand, he caught it in mid air. He studied it for a second before willing it to burst into flames. With a wave of his hand he scattered the ashes to the winds.

A few of the others tried to attack him but he merely shrugged it off. Seeing that it was useless, they rushed to their fallen comrade's side.

The girl with the computer performed a quick scan, then went pale. All eyes were on her as she said, "She's dead... Makoto is dead." They turned their eyes back to Death.

"As I have just demonstrated, all who oppose me will not survive. Now, let us try this again. I have come for the one called Sailor Mars."

Death noticed Belmont now had the Vampire Killer engulfed in white hot flames. Very powerful indeed. With a near inhuman roar of rage, he started to hurl himself at Death.

Suddenly, his quarry got in the way and put a restraining hand on young Belmont's chest.

"No," she said. Turning to Death, she said, "All right. I'll come with you willingly." Ignoring the looks of shock she received from her friends, she continued, "But please... I know it is in your power to spare Makoto."

"And why should I?" said Death, amused.

"Take me instead," said his victim, stepping toward him. "Trade my life for hers. It's me you seem to want not her."

"You are mine anyway," said Death. "You are in no position whatsoever to bargain." His victim had no reply for this.

"But I am not without compassion, however slight it may be," said Death after a few seconds of silence. "If you come with me without further resistance, I will return life to her."

She nodded once and started toward him.

"No!" said the tuxedo-clad youth. "I cannot just stand here and allow this to happen!" He blocked her path, turned and threw one of his roses at Death. It was more in desperation rather than any real attempt to attack.

"Fool," said Death, unclenching his fist to catch the rose. Upon opening his hand, the girl on the ground gasped and sat up suddenly.

"Dracula was right," said Death, as he watched the rose blacken and wither in his grasp. "This will be easier than we first suspected."

While their attention was divided between his prey and the still gasping girl on the ground, Death swooped down and grabbed the one he had come for. In a blink of an eye, both he and Sailor Mars were gone.

* * *

"We can't just sit here like this!" wailed Usagi as she paced the room, "We have to go save Rei right now! Before..." They had returned to Hikawa Shrine after what had happened.

"Calm down, Usagi," said Seiya. "We can't do anything until we know for sure that Makoto is all right."

"But..." sniffled Usagi.

"He's right," said Mamoru. "I hate this as much as you do, but we can't just rush blindly into this."

"But what will they do to Rei?" asked Minako. She glanced at Alucard, who was brooding in the corner of the room.

"Nothing will happen to her before tomorrow night, of that I am sure," said Alucard. "It is nearing dawn. If I know my father, he will sleep all day today before awakening..."

"But why?" asked Haruka. "What makes you so sure?"

"The ritual requires much stamina and patience," explained Alucard. "He will want to be well rested before such an undertaking. Especially with such a strong subject as Rei."

"What are you talking about?" asked Yaten. "What ritual?"

Grant, for once, was dead serious as he said, "The ritual of converting a mortal to vampire. There is no other reason for his capturing one of you like this."

"Vampire?!" sniffled Usagi, on the verge of wailing again.

"Of course I have no intention of allowing my father to commit this dark act yet again," said Alucard, "but we cannot simply rush into Castlevania. We must at least let your friend recover some."

"Yeah, being dead is not something one bounces back from like it was nothing," said Grant, a margin of his usual humor returning.

"We've been dead before," said Hotaru quietly from the corner opposite Alucard.

With that statement silence fell on the room for a moment. However, it was broken with the arrival of the others from the adjacent room.

Usagi rushed over to Makoto, who was being helped into the room by Ami and Jan. They were followed by Michiru, Kara, Taiki, and Setsuna.

"Are you all right?" asked Usagi.

"I'm... as all right as one can be after being dead for a few minutes," said Makoto. "That's an experience I don't care to repeat anytime soon." She involuntarily shivered at the memory. "I'm ready to go bust some heads though, if that's what you mean. If it's okay with Dr. Mizuno here, that is." She smiled at Ami.

Ami blushed slightly and said, "Well, I couldn't find anything wrong with you. That doesn't mean anything though. That obviously couldn't have been good for you."

"Well," said Makoto, "don't think I'm going to lay around here while you guys go and have all the fun."

Ami shrugged and said, "There's nothing wrong as far as I can tell, so I don't see any reason for you to stay behind."

"If it's all the same to you guys," said Makoto, "I'd just as soon go ahead and get this whole business over and done with." She looked from one set of eyes to another.

Usagi said, "I'm with you, but..." She looked at Alucard.

Alucard regarded her silently for a moment, then nodded once. "The longer we wait the more powerful my father gets. And while I am sure my father will wait before he will begin the ritual, there is no guarantee that this is so."

"But you said..." began Seiya.

"What ritual?" asked Setsuna, though she was sure she already knew the answer.

"He plans to turn your friend into a vampire," said Alucard. He held up a hand at the shocked protests of those who had not heard him say this before. "As I have already told the others, I plan to stop my father before he can do this."

"The sooner the better then, right?" said Jan. Everyone looked at him. "Well, it's not just Rei that we have to save but my father and my grandfather and all the others too."

"Then it's settled, isn't it?" said Usagi. "I say we go now."

At that, all discussion ended as the group made ready to venture to Castlevania.

* * *

"My son sorely underestimates me," said Dracula as he watched the whole scene play out before him in the window. "I have no intention of waiting until tomorrow at all."

He turned to Rei, who was chained to the wall behind him and was glaring at him. Her expression was steel but Dracula could feel her terror. It was as fragrant to him as perfume.

He moved toward her. When he was standing a mere two inches away, he stopped and watched her. She started to turn her head away, but he grabbed her chin with his hand.

"Come my dear," taunted Dracula. "Why do you resist so? I am about to give you a most generous gift."

"I want nothing from you," Rei said as she struggled to free herself from his grasp.

Dracula regarded her for a moment more. "Too bad," he said simply as he leaned forward, his suddenly bared fangs inching toward her exposed throat while he held her still. Rei could do nothing but watch in silent horror.

* * *

Death had finally put the finishing touches on Shaft. The ritual had gone better than he had expected. Shaft was nearly back to his old self once again.

"How are you feeling?" Death asked Shaft as he unbound the straps that had been restraining Shaft's body to the table. Sometimes the ritual could get... quite ugly.

"I feel like tearing Alucard and his new friends limb from limb," snarled Shaft.

"You'll get your chance soon enough," assured Death, "they're on their way here as we speak."

"Oh good," said Shaft, grinding his right fist into his left palm.

They both looked up when blood curdling screams sounded from the adjacent chamber.

"What's that?" asked Shaft, smiling.

"Hmm, seems your master is going to have a new pet soon," replied Death.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Sailor Moon stared up at the huge open archway that bid them enter the evil Castlevania. It was hard to believe that earlier that day, this had been a museum.

"It's as if they are expecting us or something," she said.

"I'd be very surprised if they weren't," replied Grant.

She regarded the door for a moment more before turning to face the rest of them. "Ok, now that we are here, what do we do now? We have to find Rei as quickly as we can."

"To that end I believe we should split into groups," said Alucard. "We will be able to cover more ground that way."

"Is that wise?" asked Sailor Neptune.

"I don't know," said Jan, "but if my ancestors were able to brave this place single-handedly, I wouldn't think that we'd have that much trouble if we did split up. Like Alucard said, we'd be able to find Rei that much more quickly."

"All right then," said Sailor Moon. "Let's split up."

"No more than four groups," said Alucard. "We do not want to spread ourselves too thin. We are only parting ways as a necessity. And one of us," he pointed to himself, Jan, Kara, and Grant at this, "should be in each group as we have the most experience with Castlevania itself."

"Sounds good," said Sailor Venus, "so who goes with who?"

With that, they split themselves off. Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and Tuxedo Kamen went with Alucard. Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Uranus, and Sailor Neptune joined Jan. Kara's group consisted of Sailor Star Fighter, Sailor Star Healer, and Sailor Star Maker. And lastly, Sailor Venus, Sailor Pluto and Sailor Saturn went with Grant.

Before heading off on their separate ways, Sailor Moon said, "All right guys, this is it. If you find anything at all, call the rest of us. Well, I guess that's all. Let's go."

The four groups set out in search of Rei.

* * *

"They are here, my master."

"Yes."

"Shall I go kill them?"

"Not just yet. I have a few surprises in store for them."

"What about this one?"

"Hmm."

"You think she will be able to actually attack her own friends?"

"Probably not. Still, it matters not. She will be destroyed with the rest of them in the end anyway."

"What would you have me do in the mean time?"

"I have already sent Death and the others. However, I want you to take our young friend here down to the dungeon. Chain her up, then come back up here. I have something I want you to handle when the time arises."

"Very good, my master."

* * *

"Look out!" yelled Sailor Venus as she leapt to the side, just missing being fried by a fireball that suddenly erupted from the far wall. As she regained her feet, she noticed that the others were also picking themselves up off the floor.

"That was a bit too close for comfort," said Grant, adjusting his bandanna. He stuck his hand out toward the middle of the hallway and, as he expected, another fireball roared down the hallway.

"It seems to be motion sensitive," said Sailor Pluto.

"Yeah," replied Grant, pointing to a large pair of crocodile skulls that were sitting at the far end of the hallway. "Old Vlad usually has lots of delightful little traps like this one scattered all over the place. Keep your eyes peeled."

With that, the four continued down the hallway. In order to avoid having yet another fireball flung at them, they tried to stay as close to the wall as possible. After walking for what seemed like almost an hour, they came upon a large burgundy colored door.

"Hmm," said Grant as he listened at the door for any activity beyond. "Seems we should go this way."

With that, he reached out and opened the door.

* * *

So far, Kara and the Sailor Star Lights had made their way through the castle without any difficulty. Kara knew that their luck was sure to change for the worse before it was all over, but she intended to take advantage of the lull in activity. She noticed that Star Maker and Star Healer had moved a bit further ahead, leaving her alone with Star Fighter.

"Hey, um, Star Fighter?" she said uncertainly.

"Yeah?" said Star Fighter.

"Well, um, I didn't mention it before because I didn't recognize you guys right off... but, well, I was a big fan of the Three Lights before you guys broke up," she said, smiling shyly.

"Well, we didn't really break up," replied Star Fighter, "we just stopped being a band. Though don't get me wrong, it was fun and all but it got to be a hassle at times. What with all the girls chasing us around all the time and such." At this, she grinned and Kara blushed.

She smirked and looked down at herself. "Heh, I wonder what our fans would think if they could see us now?"

Kara blushed again, then smiled herself. "Well, I don't know about all that, but I still..."

Just then, Sailor Star Maker called from where she and Star Healer had moved further on.

"Hey, Kara? Come look at this," she said. Kara noticed that they were standing near a dead end in the hallway. They had been on this hallway for a long while without seeing any branches leading elsewhere, and Kara was loathe to have to turn back after going so far.

When Kara and Star Fighter reached them, Star Healer and Star Maker both took a step back to let them examine the wall.

"What's with this weird symbol here?" asked Star Healer.

Kara looked up at the rather large, circular symbol that covered most of the wall.

"I think I've seen this before," she said, as she began to dig around in her satchel that she always kept at her side. She pulled out some notes that her ancestor Carrie Fernandez had scribbled down during her and Reinhardt's own trek through this very same castle, though the layout of the castle itself changed each time it reappeared.

"I thought so," said Kara. "It seems that this symbol is a magical ward to prevent the destruction of this wall."

"Hmm," said Sailor Star Maker, "There must be something very important on the other side if they want to keep us from blowing it up. So, how do we go about blowing it up?"

Kara looked through the notes from her long dead ancestor and said, "Well, Reinhardt and Carrie used a combination of Magical Nitro and Mandragora on the wall itself after finding a way to dispel the ward. I'm pretty sure I can dispel the ward myself, but I don't have the ability to destroy the wall. I personally don't care to go searching the castle for Magical Nitro or Mandragora, especially since the Nitro explodes at the slightest bump."

"Well, once you get the ward down, do you think our combined powers would be enough to do the trick?" asked Star Healer.

"Perhaps," Kara said, "but first, I have to dispel the ward." She took a step back and prepared to start the incantation. Glancing at the Star Lights, she said, "This could take a while."

* * *

"Grant was right," said Sailor Uranus glumly.

"Pardon?" said a distracted Jan as he looked out over the many large and spinning gears and shafts that extended both upward and downward as far as the eye could see. The sounds of metal striking metal sounded intermittently but in the background was a steady ticking sound.

"When he and Alucard were telling us about the history of Castlevania," explained Sailor Neptune, "he made some offhand comment about there always being a clock tower. It seems he was right."

"Hmm," Jan grimaced, "This does not look fun at all." He looked up and down again, confirming that neither a ceiling nor a floor was visible from their vantage point. One slip and the consequences would not be pleasant at all. Jan frowned again.

"Look up there," said Sailor Jupiter, pointing upward. "I think there's a door there."

Jan squinted and said, "You're right. But it is way up there. Still, I don't see any other alternatives do you? I guess we'll just have to climb up there somehow."

Jupiter looked at the gears for several long seconds, glanced at Jan, then turned back to the gears. "You're serious aren't you?" she asked.

Jan shrugged. "Unless you want to go back..."

"Nooo thank you," said Jupiter. To get to where they were now, they had had to pass through a veritable obstacle course of spike filled pits, and spike covered sections of ceiling that fell without warning, all the while being constantly attacked by zombies and axe-throwing suits of armor.

"Heads up!" shouted Neptune suddenly.

"Oh yeah," said Jan darkly when he saw what Neptune was referring to, "I'd forgotten about those. If clock towers are a constant in Castlevania, then those damned Medusa heads are a constant in the clock towers. Things just got even more interesting, ladies." He flicked his wrist and the Vampire Killer shot upward, knocking the nearest couple of Medusa heads from the air.

"Well, we're not accomplishing anything by standing around here," said Uranus, calling her Space Sword to hand. "Let's go."

All further conversation ceased, as they were too busy trying to avoid falling and avoid the detestable Medusa heads at the same time on their way upward toward the distant door.

* * *

"Eeeep," said Sailor Moon as she rounded a corner and saw several dozen machete wielding zombies advancing toward her.

"What is... oh dear," said Sailor Mercury, who was just behind her.

"Get ready," said Tuxedo Kamen as he readied his cane in one hand and a couple of roses in the other.

"Stay back," said Alucard. "I'll handle this." He sheathed his sword and stood staring at the oncoming assailants. While the senshi watched him quizzically, he merely dropped his hands to his sides and took a deep breath. Then, bringing his arms up to his chest, he yelled, "SOUL STEAL!!" With those words, many mystic orbs similar to those usually surrounding Shaft were sucked from each of the zombies. The orbs flew to Alucard and were absorbed into him. The zombies staggered forward one final step before falling over like so much dead wood.

Looking at the senshi, Alucard said simply, "It's been a while since I last fed." Then he turned again and continued forward, stepping over the corpses.

Sailor Moon glanced at Tuxedo Kamen who looked from her to Sailor Mercury. All three of them looked at Alucard, shrugged, and followed him.

After several more minutes of walking, they came upon a large, barricaded door with a barred window in the top half of it. Several more just like it lined the hallway on either side.

From one of the doors further down, Sailor Moon thought she heard someone. It sounded like someone crying. It sounded like a girl crying.

With no concern for her own safety, Sailor Moon took off down the hall. The others followed her.

Arriving at the door, Sailor Moon looked inside. Sure enough, she saw Rei chained to the wall and sobbing softly.

"REI!!" she yelled. "We're here to save you!"

Rei, hearing a familiar voice, looked up at her. Though Sailor Moon wasn't sure in the darkness of the dungeon, Rei looked a bit different than usual. Somewhat paler.

"No," said Rei weakly, "Get away..."

"What? I'm not leaving here without you." Sailor Moon took a step back. However, before she could bring her power to bear to blast the door off of its hinges, Alucard put his hand on her shoulder.

"Sailor Moon," said Sailor Mercury slowly, after looking up from her mini computer, "Rei... she is... no longer human."

"What are you..." said Sailor Moon. Then, her eyes brimming with tears, she turned to Alucard and said, "But I thought you said..."

Alucard looked down at the floor briefly then back into Sailor Moon's eyes. "I have underestimated my father. I am sorry."

"No!" said Sailor Moon. "If she's a... vampire... then, well... that's all the more reason to get her out of here as soon as we can, isn't it? There has to be a way to save her, right?"

Alucard said nothing.

Sailor Moon's eyes hardened. "There has to be a way, and I'm going to find it! Now get out of the way of the door unless you want me to blast you too!"

Again Alucard said nothing, but he did step back out of the way.

Sailor Moon then unleashed her power on the door, pretty much vaporizing it. Then she rushed into the room, though she stopped short of Rei when she saw just how _much_ she'd changed.

Rei's skin was the color of chalk. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying though she had them closed now.

"Sailor Moon..." she said, and when she opened her mouth to speak, Sailor Moon could see her fangs, "...leave me here. It's a trap..."

"What are you talking about?" said Sailor Moon, who had already begun undoing Rei's manacles. "I'm not leaving this castle without you! That's the whole reason we came here you know!"

When she finally got her loose, Sailor Moon sat Rei down on the bunk in the dungeon. Then she knelt down in front of Rei and took Rei's head in her hands. Rei opened her eyes and looked at her.

"Oh Rei, what have they done to you," said Sailor Moon softly.

"No," said Rei again, "...you have to leave me here... before..."

Sailor Moon gasped as Rei's eyes suddenly took on the most evil expression she had ever seen in her life. Before she could react, Rei grabbed her arms, stood up with her, and bodily hurled her across the small cell. Sailor Moon crashed into the wall and sank to the floor, moaning softly.

"Sailor Moon!!" yelled both Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Mercury. They, along with Alucard, were still standing just outside of the cell. Rei whipped her head around and glared at them. Raising her hand, she let loose with a large stream of fire that engulfed the entire doorway, barring them from entering it. That taken care of, she turned back to Sailor Moon.

"You should have listened to me," she said in a voice that, while still her own, was strangely different somehow. It was much darker and had a much more evil sound to it. "When have my instincts in matters such as this ever been wrong?"

"Rei...? Why are you doing this?" said Sailor Moon, struggling to get back to her feet. Rei walked over and delivered a vicious spinning punch that sent Sailor Moon flying into the adjacent wall.

"Why? Why do you think? I am now much more powerful than I have ever been. I'm no longer confined to those rather restricting senshi powers. And, in sharing blood with the master, I've gained a new perspective on life. The way I was living before... just doesn't suit me anymore."

"Rei..." moaned Sailor Moon as she tried again to rise to her feet. Rei tried to hit her again, but Sailor Moon blocked it. Rei merely shrugged, switched directions, and caught her with a powerful reverse roundhouse kick. Sailor Moon again connected with the wall.

As Rei stood over her triumphantly, Sailor Moon looked up at her weakly and groaned her name again. Rei withdrew a wavey-bladed dagger from a place in the wall where it had been hidden before. Kneeling down next to her former friend, she smiled. After making absolutely sure that Sailor Moon had seen the dagger, Rei grabbed her by the pony tails and jerked her to her feet.

Suddenly, with a muffled shout, a black figure careened through the fire wall at the door and slammed into her. The dagger slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor. Tuxedo Kamen kicked it out of her reach before she could even think to pick it up again.

"Ah, my dear Mamoru, so you want some to, eh?" she snarled as she fired a low kick at him. He sidestepped it, came around behind her, and then grabbed her in a powerful bearhug. Tuxedo Kamen found that it was all he could do to hold her. Rei strength seemed to have almost tripled.

Quickly following Tuxedo Kamen, Alucard came through the fire wall as well. Seconds later, a voice yelled "MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!" The fire wall promptly vanished and Sailor Mercury rushed through the door.

"You traitor!" spat Rei when she saw Alucard. Alucard said nothing. Instead, he reached into his coat and produced a pair of glasses. He put them on and examined Rei for a moment. He smiled grimly, then took them off and put them away.

Again, without saying a word, he drew his sword. He drew back and, before anyone could think to try to restrain him, swung it in a high arc toward Rei. However, his target was not Rei herself, but an area above her head that, to the rest of them, looked like empty air.

Rei shrieked in rage as the sword fell toward her.

When the sword struck, however, there was a sudden explosion of power that knocked all but Alucard to the ground.

Dazed, Tuxedo Kamen got back to his feet. Suddenly he realized he was no longer restraining Rei.

Rei, though, was making no move to attack them. Instead she lay moaning on the floor with her head in her hands. She looked up at them. Then she looked over at Sailor Moon, who was now lying unconscious against the wall. Suddenly bursting into tears, Rei rushed to Sailor Moon's side and put her arms around her. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed softly.

Sailor Moon began to regain consciousness. "Huh?" she muttered. "Is it time to go to school already?" Rei laughed through her tears at this and merely hugged her more tightly.

Then Sailor Moon remembered where she was. She saw that Rei was no longer acting evil. That being the case, she started crying herself and returned the hug.

"Oh Rei, are you all right?" she said between sniffles. They both looked up at the others. While Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Mercury had their backs to them and were studiously examining an area of the far wall, Alucard gazed at them with a grim expression on his face.

"What's... wrong?" said Sailor Moon slowly. Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Mercury turned to face them.

Alucard closed his eyes and said, "I have broken the control that Shaft had over her. However... she is still a vampire."

Sailor Moon was shocked and looked at Rei. Rei returned her gaze sadly.

"But... I thought..." said Sailor Moon before breaking down again.

"However," said Alucard. He paused to make sure they were listening, then continued, "There might still be a way. The only way that I know of is for the afflicted to deal the killing blow to the vampire that cursed them to begin with."

"But that means..." began Tuxedo Kamen.

"Yes," said Alucard, "it means that Rei must inflict the final blow upon my father. Otherwise..."

The others looked at Rei. She nodded slightly and said, "I understand." She got to her feet, as did Sailor Moon.

"Rei, can you still transform?" asked Sailor Mercury.

"Hmm, I don't know," replied Rei, "but I can always try." She took a step away from them and help out her hand. "MARS CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!!"

And then there stood Sailor Mars. Vampire or not, she was still Sailor Mars.

"How do you feel?" asked Sailor Moon in concern.

"I feel a bit ill, but I believe I can still fight with you guys," she said. She looked at Alucard, who nodded.

Sailor Moon looked her up and down once, then said, "All right then, I'm ready to go show Dracula what I do to people who mess with my friends. Let's go, you guys!"

* * *

"DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL!!"

"You have failed once again, Shaft."

"....."

"But it was to be expected. I knew that would be one of the first things my son would look for. There was no way to avoid it."

"I am sorry, my master. I was unable to stop him from seeing through my control over her. I will personally kill them with my own hands."

"We shall see when the time comes, won't we now? And that time shall be soon. Make ready, for the enemy draws nigh."

"Yes, my master."

* * *

Grant, Venus, Saturn, and Pluto entered a large chamber which was covered from floor to ceiling with red velvet. They walked to the center of the room, to face a large throne that was on the opposite side of the room from which they had entered.

"Ah, welcome to my chamber," came a British-accented female voice from somewhere near the throne.

"Damn," muttered Grant, "it's that... that... hussy."

"Why Grant, you flatter me," came the voice again. On the throne the figure of a woman shimmered into existence. She wore a long, low cut, blood red dress. Contrasting sharply with the red of the dress, her green hair flowed down her back. She flashed them a smile, the red of her lips, though matching the dress, stood out against her white skin. Long, razor sharp fangs glistened in the faint light. "I didn't know you thought so highly of me," said the woman.

"Well, I couldn't say what I really wanted to since there are children present," Grant said, motioning to Sailor Saturn, who looked at him with her brow furrowed.

"Um, excuse me Grant," said Sailor Venus, "but who is this?"

"Grant! Where oh where have your manners gone? Oh silly me, you never had any to begin with," said the woman, still smiling. "Well, pretend to be a gentleman for just a moment and introduce me to your friends."

Grant silently fumed as he faced the woman. "I present to you," he said with a theatrical bow, "Sailor Venus, the Senshi of Love, Sailor Pluto, the Senshi of Time, and Sailor Saturn, the Senshi of Death and Rebirth."

He turned to the senshi. "And I present to you the Countess Elizabeth Bartley, niece of old Vlad, and the vilest, most despicable thing on two legs after Shaft and old Vlad himself."

"Oh ho ho," said Elizabeth Bartley, "the things you say to win a woman's heart!" She looked at the senshi. "Pleased to meet you. It's almost a shame that I'm going to have to kill you all. But it's almost tea time, and I do hate to miss tea time. I have a fine young man in the back who is just... dying to join me." She stood up and began to float.

Grant and the senshi took up defensive positions and prepared to fight.

Bartley summoned several glowing orbs to circle around her as she flew around the room.

Grant snorted, "You and Shaft with your orbs. What is your obsession with orbs?"

Bartley ignored him and said, "I'd like to say it's been fun but, well... I'd be lying. Especially you, Grant, you uncouth beast you! Now, be good little children and die nice and quickly for me, would you?" With that, she began to launch multiple fireballs in their direction.

Saturn looked at Pluto, who nodded. Saturn sighed, held up the Silence Glaive, and yelled, "SILENCE WALL!" Of course, all of the fireballs were absorbed into the field.

"Hey hey!" shrieked Bartley, "you guys don't play fair at all, do you? Well, that's just fine and dandy because I can play hard ball too, you know?" At this, her form began to change. Her hair melted into hissing vipers, and from the waist down, her body changed to that of a snake.

Grant was ready for this, however. Before the change was complete, he leapt up into the air, attached himself to the ceiling directly above the Countess, and dropped as many axes and daggers on her as he could.

Bartley/Medusa screamed in pain as the weapons struck home.

"Quick!" shouted Grant from his perch, "Finish her!"

The senshi nodded once to each other.

"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!!"

"SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!!"

"Dead Scream."

The twisted from of Bartley/Medusa screamed one final time before melting into the floor. In her place, was a single glowing orb.

Grant released his grip and landed deftly on the floor, which was about one hundred feet below. He walked up and gave the orb a swift kick. It sailed into the throne and shattered.

"Fatality," he muttered under his breath. At the glances and smirks he got from the senshi, he shrugged and said, "I've always wanted to say that, so sue me."

Grant, Venus, Saturn, and Pluto exited the room through a door next to the ill-fated Bartley's throne. On their way out, they found the young man that Bartley had referred to. Unfortunately, he was too far gone for them to be any help to him, so they had no choice but to leave him.

* * *

The light was blinding and the screeching roar was deafening. The Star Lights alternated between shielding their eyes and covering their ears as Kara attempted to dispel the ward on the door.

After several minutes of this, the light and sound finally dimmed. When they could finally see again, they looked to see the results of Kara's attempt.

Not only had the ward been dispelled, but a hole large enough to drive a semi through had been made in the wall.

Sailor Star Fighter grinned as she said, "Don't you think you overdid it a bit?"

Kara blushed as Star Healer said, "Yeah, you didn't leave anything for us to do."

Before Kara could reply, a voice called from the other side of the wall, "Oh, don't worry. I'm sure you'll find plenty to do in the next few minutes.

"Who's there?" said the Star Lights simultaneously. They joined Kara as she waded across the rubble that used to be the wall.

They entered a room that was covered from floor to ceiling in something bluish in color. The sudden chill and slippery floor told them that it was ice that was covering everything.

"Actrise!" Kara shouted venomously.

"Yes, my dear? You have something you wish to say to me?" came the dark reply. The source of the voice sounded from somewhere near the center of the large cavern. There stood a woman wearing a fancy gray coat-dress with red trim. On her chest, overtop of her white blouse was a large red brooch. Covering her shoulder-length pale blue hair was a jewel-studded wide-brimmed gray hat with a large blue feather sticking out of it.

"Well?" said Actrise again, when Kara said nothing.

Instead of replying with words, Kara launched a large fireball at the witch. Actrise grimaced and called up a red crystal pillar to block the fireball. All around her various colored pillars of crystal sprang up.

The Star Lights needed no prompting to join in the battle. However, each time they would destroy a crystal, another would spring up in its place before they could strike the witch herself. Meanwhile, Actrise was summoning pillars of crystal near them, which they had to dodge or else become impaled upon them. If they ever did successfully hit her, she would quickly teleport to a different location, resummon her crystal barriers and begin her attack anew.

"This is getting us nowhere fast," yelled Star Healer as she leapt over yet another of the crystal pillars which had sprang up in the position she had just been occupying.

"Kara!" yelled Star Fighter over the din. "We'll handle the barriers! I want you to blast her with that same thing that you used to blow down the wall!"

Kara was floating above the battlefield and thus able to avoid the crystal pillars, but she was having problems enough of her own with multiple bolts of energy that the powerful witch was launching at her. Her own fireballs and lightning bolts were being absorbed into the crystal pillars. She nodded once, and began to concentrate on dodging rather than trying to attack, while she stored up her energy for one final blow.

"All right," shouted Star Maker, "all we have to do now is keep her busy long enough for Kara to get ready, then we blow a hole in her defenses long enough for Kara to get her shot through!"

"Maker! Look out!" yelled Star Healer. Before Star Maker could do anything, one of the energy bolts that had been heading for Kara arched and struck her in the back.

Star Healer rushed to her side, picked her up, and lurched to the side just as a trio of crystal pillars appeared right where Star Maker had been lying.

"I'm all right," said Star Maker, "but... thanks for the save."

"Don't mention it," grinned Star Healer.

"NOW!" yelled Star Fighter from the opposite side of the room.

"Wow. Kara's quick when she has to be," quipped Star Healer.

"Let's go, Healer," said Star Maker. "STAR GENTLE UTERUS!!"

Star Healer nodded, "STAR SENSITIVE INFERNO!!"

And from her position, Star Fighter yelled, "STAR SERIOUS LASER!!"

Three pillars exploded at the same time, leaving Actrise open for a split second. But a split second was all that Kara needed. She let loose with a gargantuan blast of pure energy. It was enough to cause Kara herself to be flung backwards into the wall. Again, a blinding light and deafening roar filled the cavern.

Several minutes later, when the chaos finally died down, Actrise was no where to be seen. Only her hat remained, lying still on the ice in the center of the room.

"Well, I guess that's that," said Star Healer. Star Maker nodded.

Across the room, Star Fighter ran to Kara side. Kara was just getting back to her feet and was still weak.

"You ok?" asked Star Fighter.

"Yeah, I guess so," said Kara.

Star Fighter looked over at the hat that was all that was left of the evil witch. She turned back to Kara and said, "You want to talk about it?"

"No, not really," said Kara. "It's just that she is to blame for all the troubles that my family has experienced for the past century or so. I'm glad I was finally able to pay her back for it all."

"Hmmm," said Star Fighter. After a few seconds of silence, they were joined by Star Healer and Star Maker.

"Where to now guys?" said Star Healer.

"How about through that huge door that just opened up over there," said Star Maker, pointing at the huge door that had just opened up on the far side of the room, opposite of the one they'd entered through.

Star Healer blushed and said, "Sounds good to me."

* * *

"If I see just _one_ more of those Medusa heads I am going to..." fumed Sailor Uranus as they entered the door they had worked so hard to get to.

She stopped in mid sentence when she saw their next adversary. Death floated in the middle of the room and stared silently down at them.

"Ohhh crap," muttered Jan.

"So, shall you make this easy on all of us and allow me to take your souls now," said Death, "or are you going to complicate things by trying to resist first?"

Sailor Uranus slitted her eyes and said, "What's the fun if we don't resist?"

Death shrugged expansively and replied, "If that's the way it has to be, then that's the way it has to be. Actually, I believe I'm going to rather enjoy this. It's been so long since my last good fight. I may even toy with you a while before I end it."

He held his scythe out in front of him. Several scores of flying and quickly spinning sickles appeared around him. He let them float there while he said, "It is not too late to change your minds, you know. It will be infinitely more pleasant for you if you just submit now."

"No dice, cummerbund," said Jan. The senshi looked at him oddly, but he just shrugged.

Death sighed a deep sigh and said, "Don't say I didn't try." With that, all of the sickles flew at Jan and the senshi.

"I really wish Hotaru were here," said Neptune as she contorted her body in many strange and unusual shapes while trying to dodge all of the deadly projectiles.

"WORLD SHAKING!!" yelled Uranus. While the attack had about as much effect on Death this time as it did first time she tried it, it did give him enough pause that the sickle assault let up... slightly.

"Hmm, think I'll give it a shot myself," said Jupiter. "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!!" The effect of her attack was as nil as that of Uranus except that it kept Death distracted enough that his sickles lessened again in intensity.

"DEEP SUBMERGE!!" yelled Sailor Neptune. Same effect: none except for mere distraction.

"HIIIYAA!!" screamed Jan as he did a full seven hundred and twenty degree spin over and behind Death. The Vampire Killer flicked out,  
covered in white hot holy fire.

Death grunted in momentary shock as he lurched forward. The attack of sickles let up completely for a full second or two before starting up again in full force.

"Not bad, Belmont," said Death as he watched his soon-to-be victims dodge his sickles. "And you too, girls. Though your powers are worthless, I have to give you points for flexibility. Though I'd rather expected you two to be quite... flexible." At this he leered at Uranus and Neptune. Uranus and Neptune, for their part, had the good grace to blush. Jupiter put her hand to her mouth and turned her head to the side.

"More fight, less chat!" yelled a completely oblivious Jan as he leapt at Death's back again.

"Whatever you say, my boy," said Death, who then spun around and hurled his scythe at the onrushing vampire slayer.

"Gyaah," said Jan as the mere wind from the scythe knocked him flat on his back.

"Well, you said more fight," said Death.

"JUPITER..."

"WORLD..."

"DEEP..."

"...OAK EVOLUTION!!"

"...SHAKING!!"

"...SUBMERGE!!"

"You know, I'd come this close to forgetting about you back there," said Death as he turned to face the senshi once again. He caught his scythe as it returned to him like a boomerang. Then, lowering it like a broom, he swooped downed toward them, intending to cleave them all in half with one sweeping movement.

Both Jupiter and Uranus jumped and unleashed flying roundhouse kicks to Death, while Neptune ducked and rolled underneath the scythe. Death, for his part, performed an involuntary back flip toward his original position at the center of the room.

Regaining his composure, he said, "That was a rather... interesting experience. However, I'm quickly growing tired of this."

Suddenly, from one side of the room, Kara and the Sailor Star Lights burst into the room. And at the same time, from the opposite side of the room, in ran Grant, Sailor Venus, Sailor Pluto, and Sailor Saturn.

"Hmm, seems the odds just dipped a bit out of my favor," said Death. He looked at Sailor Saturn. "Ah, if it isn't the Senshi of Death herself. In your time, you've sent many to my realm. I've been wanting to see if you could live up to your name against the real thing ever since I first saw you in action."

Then he noticed Kara waving her hands, a small globe of purple energy floating between them.

"Ah, so the little Belnades finally comes into her own," said Death. "Now you'd really do Sypha and Carrie proud."

"Isn't he a bit more... um... chipper than when we last saw him?" asked Sailor Venus as she took up a position behind Sailor Star Healer.

Grant said, "The blowhard always gets that way during a fight. I just started ignoring him after the first hour or so of our last fight, but Trevor couldn't let any of it get by without a snappy comeback of his own. I could have just sat back and listened to them two bicker..."

"First... _hour_...?" said several less than thrilled voices.

Grant flushed, "Well, I doubt it'll take that long with all of us at once, but you never can tell with the old Reaper there. He almost always has some new trick up his sleeve."

"If you only knew the power... of the dark side," said Death in a deep, yet oddly familiar, voice.

"Ookaay" said Sailor Venus. She'd taken a position next to Jan and was unconsciously holding her chain in the same manner that he was holding the Vampire Killer. In unspoken agreement, she leapt with Jan and yelled, "VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!!" at the same time that he flicked out with the Vampire Killer. The others chose to attack at the same time as well.

Death was left spinning in the center of the room. When he finally got a hold of himself, he spun around once more of his own accord and looked at each of the gathered warriors.

"Impressive. Most impressive," he said in the same voice as before. Then he held out his hands to either side. Suddenly, a powerful ring of energy emanated from Death and blasted all of them against the walls.

"You are beaten. It is useless to resist," said Death.

"If you knew how annoying that was getting..." said Grant.

"Grant... I am your fath..."

"WOULD YOU SHADDAP WITH THE LAME DARTH VADER IMPERSONATION ALREADY!!" yelled Grant, interrupting the Grim Reaper.

"Fine," said Death. "You don't seem to appreciate true humor anyway. Well, it has been most entertaining, but I am afraid I have business elsewhere. Don't worry, despite the fact that you resisted I'll still make this quick since you all did put on quite a show."

With that said, Death began to change. He grew to double his original size. His black cloak was replaced with a shiny metallic exoskeleton. Each of his hands were replaced with ten foot long scythe blades. And as he floated above them, sickles the size of his original scythe began to spin around him.

Looking directly at Sailor Saturn, he launched all of the sickles directly at her. The others gathered around her, while she called up a Silence Wall. Though it stopped the vast majority of the deadly sickles, a few dozen of them got through. These errant sickles were easily batted down by Jan's Alcarde Spear and Grant's well placed dagger throws. Saturn dropped to her knees as a result of the exertion. Finally, the Silence Wall dropped.

"Any last words?" he said in a new voice that sounded mechanized.

"Yeah," muttered Jan, "see you in hell." He called forth both the holy water talisman and the agunea talisman.

Grant saw what he planned to do and yelled, "Everyone! Get down!"

"HYDRO STORM!!" yelled Jan as he tossed the holy water talisman high into the air. Quickly following that, he also tossed the agunea talisman with it.

A glowing white cloud appeared directly above Death as he stared upward in amusement. Holy water began to pour from the cloud, leaving scorch marks on Death's new metallic body.

Death snorted and said, "Is this all you can do, Belmont? Why this is... ARRRRRGGGGGHHH!!" He was stopped in mid-sentence when suddenly a blindingly powerful bolt of blue lightning crashed down from the cloud and struck Death dead center.

"Now!" yelled Sailor Venus. At that, the others got up and lent aid to Jan's powerful attack.

When the fireworks finally ended, Death's original form lay prone on the ground. He rose to his feet and regarded all of them. The room began to quake violently and the senshi and their friends were hard pressed to stay on their feet.

A red portal appeared beneath the Grim Reaper and he began to slowly sink into it.

"Looks like the joke was on me after all," he said. "Very well. I'll give you this fight. But just know that while you have been wasting your time here with me, your friends are walking right into a trap laid by Shaft and the Count. Why I wouldn't be surprised if they were there even now."

Finally, the portal closed as the Death's head disappeared into it.

Sailor Venus looked around the room and saw that the others were as worried as she felt herself. "Come on, guys," she said and started for a new door that had opened. "There's no time to lose!"

* * *

"He is very close," said both Alucard and Sailor Mars simultaneously. They glanced at each other.

"So you sense him too?" said Alucard.

"Yes..." replied Sailor Mars. She shivered suddenly. "Unfortunately."

"It's quiet," said Sailor Mercury as they were walking down a long hallway. There were candles at systematic intervals on either side of the hallway, but since none of them were lit, it was very dark in the hall.

"Yeah, a little too..." started Sailor Moon, but closed her mouth at the glares she received from the others.

Suddenly, the two candles immediately to either side of them burst into flame, causing Sailor Moon to jump back in fright.

As they made their way down the hallway, the candles lit up of their own accord each time they passed a pair.

"This place is really giving me the creeps," said Sailor Moon.

At the end of the hallway, a large oak door slowly yawned open.

"I don't like this at all," said Tuxedo Kamen.

"Welcome, interlopers," came a deep voice from within the darkness inside the new room.

"Shaft," said Alucard under his breath.

"Why yes, Alucard," said Shaft. "I do hope you have prepared yourselves to die. That, my friends, is what you all shall do very shortly."

Alucard drew his sword and Tuxedo Kamen readied his cane. They moved slowly into the darkened room.

The lights came on suddenly. Shaft stood at the far end of the room. Sitting on a large throne next to him, was Count Dracula himself. This was the first time any of the senshi, other than Sailor Mars, had seen him.

"You'll have to forgive Shaft," said Dracula. "You see, he's not quite been himself lately. He thinks of nothing but revenge. Not that I can blame him really, considering what you all did to him not too long ago."

Dracula stood up. "However, Shaft's affairs are none of my concern. I do intend to give him ample opportunity to kill these others. However, my son, you are mine and mine alone." He strode down the steps toward them.

"Father!" said Alucard, gripping his sword tightly. Dracula observed this subtle action.

"Son, you amuse me. Who, pray tell, do you think taught you to use a sword in the first place, hmm?"

Dracula held out his hand. In it, a huge two-handed greatsword appeared. Dracula, though, was able to hold it effortlessly in just one hand.

Shaft walked over next to his master. "Her!" he yelled, pointing to Sailor Mars. "I want her!"

"No!" yelled Sailor Moon, Mercury, and Tuxedo Kamen forming a protective ring around Mars. Tuxedo Kamen took several steps forward and held his cane out threateningly.

"Hmm," said Dracula. "Seems as if they don't want you to have her."

"I don't care!" screamed Shaft. "I intend to kill them all one-by-one anyway. Maybe it's better to save her for last." He eyed Tuxedo Kamen angrily.

"One-by-one, sounds good," said Dracula. He turned to the other senshi. "We can't have you interfering in a fair, one-on-one battle now can we?"

He held up his other hand. Suddenly, a large wall slammed into place, effectively cutting Sailors Moon, Mars, and Mercury off from the rest of them. Tuxedo Kamen spun around, then turned back to face his opponent.

"Don't worry," said Dracula to Shaft, "They're not going anywhere. And they won't be able to interfere at all. Kill him at your whim."

Shaft didn't say another word. He drew a scimitar from his belt and rushed at Tuxedo Kamen. He brought it down in a move calculated to split Tuxedo Kamen from head to toe. However, Tuxedo Kamen brought up his cane and blocked the scimitar, then swung the cane in a low arc that swept Shaft off his feet. Shaft howled in rage as he leapt back to his feet. Tuxedo Kamen merely took a step back and prepared to intercept the next attack.

Dracula frowned in disapproval, then turned to face Alucard. "So, my son. Shall we begin?"

"Very well, father" said Alucard. They suddenly rushed each other and metal clashed on metal. The battle was joined.

* * *

"Tuxedo Kamen's in there by himself!!" wailed Sailor Moon, "We have to get in there and help him!"

"Sailor Moon, please calm down!" said Sailor Mercury. She had her mini computer out and was scanning the wall for any sort of weakness. They had already tried attacking the wall, but some sort of magical shield had absorbed their powers.

"Okay okay! I'm calming down," said Sailor Moon. She went over and sat down next to Sailor Mars, who was quietly meditating. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm getting worse," said Sailor Mars without opening her eyes. At Sailor Moon's worried silence, Mars looked at her and said, "Alucard may have broken Shaft's control, but he didn't break Dracula's control. While more subtle, it is far more pervasive. I've been able to resist it so far, but I'm losing. I just know it. We're going to have to end this soon."

* * *

"This way!" said Grant. He had been chosen to lead the way as he had the most experience with Castlevania. Also, due to his strong bond with Alucard, they were being led in the right direction.

"They're in trouble," said Sailor Pluto, who was right behind Grant. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Yes," said Grant. "I don't know about the rest of them, but Alucard is in full-blown fight mode. That is never a good sign, I'm afraid."

"The sooner we get there, the happier I'll be," said Sailor Venus.

The others voiced varying degrees of affirmation as they continued onward.

* * *

Alucard picked himself up off the floor. The deep gash he had received on his sword arm was not helping matters at all. He looked at his father, who stood in a traditional fencer's stance and smiled at him. He did not know how long he would be able to continue battling with his father before... no, that way of thinking was sure to defeat him long before his father's sword would.

He glanced over to see if Tuxedo Kamen was faring any better than he was. The exact instant he averted his eyes was when Dracula decided to renew his attack. Once again, Alucard found himself fighting the toughest fight of his long life.

* * *

"Arrrgh!" yelled Shaft as he parried Tuxedo Kamen's cane yet again. Though he had not yet been able to inflict any damage, neither had Tuxedo Kamen done any real harm with his cane.

Suddenly, he found himself face down on the floor again. He leapt back to his feet and snarled, "You may be very skilled with that cane, but it is still just a cane and no match for a real sword. It's only a matter of time before you slip up and then I'll have you!"

"You're right," said Tuxedo Kamen. Though Shaft had been taunting him relentlessly, these was the first words Tuxedo Kamen had spoken since they had begun fighting.

"Huh?" said Shaft, not expecting this.

"About the cane, I mean," said Tuxedo Kamen. Tuxedo Kamen lunged forward and caught Shaft in the abdomen with the cane, doubling him over. Then he spun around and sent Shaft flying head over heels backwards over Dracula's throne.

While Shaft lay on his back staring up at the ceiling, Tuxedo Kamen kept talking, "It's no substitute for a real sword at all."

Shaft leapt to his feet again and was about to attack again, when he saw that Tuxedo Kamen was no longer there. In his place stood a regal figure in full battle armor. His cape fluttered in the slight wind as he watched Shaft.

"So, how do you like it?" said Prince Endymion, glancing at the broadsword in his hand before returning his gaze to Shaft.

"AAARRRGGH!!" screamed Shaft in nearly mindless rage as he threw himself at the Prince of Earth. Endymion easily sidestepped and slammed him in the back with the flat of his sword, knocking him to the ground yet again.

Shaft stood up slowly, and turned to face Endymion. "It seems I am no match for you in swordplay," he said. "Therefore I will resort to what I _am_ good at." With that, he took to the air, summoning a half dozen floating orbs to his side.

Endymion said nothing. He merely waited.

Shaft cackled insanely and launched the orbs at Endymion. As this was what he was waiting for, the Prince leapt into motion. Bounding off of one of the orbs, he propelled himself directly at the dark priest.

Shaft screamed in horror as he saw Endymion bring his sword around. That was, in fact, the last thing Shaft ever saw.

Endymion landed behind Shaft and turned to face him. Cleaved cleanly in half, what was left of the evil priest dropped to the floor with a thud. His orbs also dropped to the floor, shattering when they hit.

Prince Endymion then turned his focus toward helping Alucard, who was on the losing end of his own battle with his father.

* * *

"Here!" said Grant as they rushed down a long hallway that was dimly lit by candles at intermittent intervals. Rushing through a large open door, they almost trampled Sailor Moon before they saw her standing there, waving her arms at them frantically.

"Sailor Moon!" said Sailor Jupiter. "Did you find Rei?" Then, she saw Sailor Mars sitting in the corner, staring down at the floor.

"Sailor Mars!" said Sailor Venus happily. She started over to her, but Sailor Mercury stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"It would be best to leave her be right now," said Sailor Mercury. "Besides, she is so deep in a trance that I don't think she can hear you anyway."

"Where's Tuxedo Kamen?" asked Sailor Pluto suddenly.

"And Alucard?" added Kara.

Sailor Mercury motioned to the wall behind her. "Dracula and Shaft separated us from them with this wall. We've been trying to get through it, but there is some sort of field that absorbs our powers."

Sailor Star Fighter said, "Hmm, do you think this is another ward, Kara?"

Kara walked forward and put her hand on the wall. She nodded. "This one is much stronger than the last one, though," she said. "I may be able to break it, but only with the help of all of you."

"Well," said Sailor Star Healer, "if anyone can break this wall down, it'd be you."

"Stand back," said Kara. She moved to the center of the room and began speaking in a language none of the others understood. The wall began to glow increasingly brighter.

* * *

Alucard looked groggily over at Endymion, who was lying on the ground next to him.

"You all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I believe so," replied Endymion, "but I wished he'd have stuck to plain sword fighting."

"So do I," muttered Alucard, "but it can't be helped."

"What?" laughed Dracula from his position high in the air above them. "Am I playing with you too roughly?"

He raised both arms and spread his cape. Four flaming bats flew from beneath his cape and toward them.

Alucard and Endymion leapt to their feet and attacked the bats. While they were busy with the flaming bats, Dracula lowered himself and hurled another wave of energy at them, once again slamming them into the wall.

Dracula landed next to them. Looking down at them with mock pity, he said, "You really didn't think I was going to let you even pretend you had some sort of advantage did you? I'm sorry but that is just not my way." He leaned backwards, levitated toward the center of the room, and landed again.

"My son, you should have kept up with your skills. It is embarrassing for me to defeat you so handily like this."

Again, Alucard and Endymion stood up. Though not really ready, but knowing that they had no choice otherwise, they turned to face the Count again.

"My we are persistent, aren't we?" laughed Dracula. "I haven't had fun like this in over eighty years. I think I will..." Then he stopped. Frowning, he cocked his head slightly as if listening to something.

Then Alucard and Endymion heard it as well. A high pitched whining sound from somewhere nearby.

Before they could speculate much about what it was, the far wall that Dracula had brought down suddenly exploded toward them. Dracula, Alucard, and Endymion shielded themselves as they were assaulted by flying debris and an intensely bright light.

"What...?" began the Count.

"I will tell you what," came the voice of Sailor Moon from the source of the light, "We are the Sailor Senshi and in the name of all that is good we intend to send you back to where you came from. I personally cannot forgive you for what you did to my friend. So, ready or not, here I go! SILVER MOON CRYSTAL POWER KISS!!"

Dracula held out a hand, thinking he was going to absorb the blow as he had all the others that had been sent against him by his son and Prince Endymion. Instead, he soon found himself buckling to his knees.

"Such... power," he said. Then he heard other voices in addition to that of Sailor Moon. Following that, he felt still more energy flowing into him. Too much energy.

"Noooo!" yelled Dracula, who still could not see because of the blinding light. "Not again!!"

"Now Sailor Mars!" he heard his son yell.

The voice of his fledgling sounded over the cacophony assaulting him along with all of the power.

"MARS.... FLAME.... SNIPER!!"

Dracula did not see it, but he surely felt the flaming arrow strike him in the chest.

"NNNOOOOO!!!" he screamed in a mixture of anger and agony. Then he felt the now familiar sensation of his body beginning to break up.

So... it was to be yet another century before he could take his rightful place as ruler of this world. So be it. Dracula was a very patient man.

"Listen and listen well!" he screamed even as his body was beginning to fade away. "You have won once again, my son. And you, his newfound allies. I commend you. But keep this in mind as you sleep at night during the next century. You have to win every single time. I, however, have only... to... win... but... ooonnnnncccee......." With that, the last of Dracula's essence disappeared.

"We'll be here," whispered Sailor Mars, just before collapsing.

* * *

Rei opened her eyes to find herself being carried by Alucard as he ran.  
Beyond him, she saw all of her friends running as well as the castle was disappearing around them.

She started to say something, but stopped. Something was terribly wrong with her. Then she realized why she felt the way she did. "Oh no," she moaned softly, "it... didn't work."

"We'll worry about that later," said Alucard only loud enough for her to hear.

She struggled to speak again, but finally succumbed to unconsciousness once again as they all fled the disintegrating Castlevania.

* * *

A half an hour later, the group watched as the top of the evil castle finally disappeared beneath the ground. Turning to Mamoru, Usagi said softly, "It's finally over, right?"

Mamoru shook his head and motioned to Rei, who was still being carried by Alucard.

Tears that were not quite dry from the last time began to flow down Usagi's cheeks again as she gazed at her friend silently. She turned back to the visage of Castlevania disappearing and rested her head gently against Mamoru's shoulders.

After a few more minutes, they all turned without a word and left the roof of the building from which they had observed the spectacle.


	7. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

As Rei lay in darkness, she heard the voices of her friends.

"You said she would return to normal..." came a voice that was almost drowned out by sobs.

Usagi. Probably her closest friend in the whole world. Never mind that she acted like a complete ditz a majority of the time. That was one of the qualities that endeared her to Rei so much, though Rei would never tell _her_ that.

"I'm sorry," said a low pitched voice.

Alucard. Son of the one who had left her in the state she was currently in. She felt no anger at him at all. In fact she was glad that he was there. He had tried everything he knew to save her, even going so far as to use some mental tricks that only he knew about. This he had not told the others about, but Rei would never forget. Even though they had not been enough....

"I will always be a part of you," said an even lower pitched voice.

Who...? No! Rei tried to scream but she was too engulfed in the darkness to make herself heard. The face of Dracula appeared in her peripheral vision. She turned her mind's eye toward him and his full form appeared.

"Something's wrong!" said one of her friends but she couldn't tell who. The voices of her friends were fading out. Soon all she could hear was Dracula's taunting laugh.

"You are now all alone. And you are _mine_ at long last."

No. She wouldn't let him take control of her. How he even had the strength...

"You vastly underestimate me, my dear. I have been around _far_ longer than anyone can imagine. Even my son. I was here in the beginning. I witnessed all. I witnessed Chaos. I witnessed the Sailor Wars as you tend to think about them. I was there. And if not for one small mistake, _I_ would be the supreme ruler of this universe. The Reaper had to get in my way. I was not about to let such a trivial thing as Death stop me from achieving my goals. I defeated him and bent him to my will. _He_ even came to respect _me_. Like Hercules wrestling the hell-creature Cerberus, I wrestled Death to the ground and defeated him. But, we were locked in combat for countless eons. I witnessed the rise and fall of your Silver Millennium during our battle. When I finally succeeded in defeating him I found that too many years had passed. Everything I had ever known was gone. I started fresh. That was the history that my son and his friends related to you. I have _no_ intention of losing, my dear. What is a half a millennium to me? I who have been here since the beginning?"

Why...? Why Rei? Why was he doing this to her?

"You? You are convenient for me. Like that pitiful boy Malus. He too thought he could resist me."

No. She was different. She was a Sailor Senshi and a Shinto priestess. She had to have the power to...

"Do not make me laugh. It is so unpleasant a thing. You have no real power at all. You even think you and your friends defeated Chaos. Now that is what is really amusing. Chaos is not something that can be defeated. Chaos is always."

......

"Your will is weakening already. Maybe you were not such a wise choice after all. Even Malus took longer than this to break. Hmm...." the voice seemed distracted at the end.

......

"It seems your friends are still futilely trying to save you."

Then they had not given up on her. There was still a chance....

"You place too much faith in them."

No. A very dim light was trying to pierce the darkness.

"......"

It was Sailor Moon! She was trying to heal her. And the others....

"This...."

Was Dracula actually afraid?

"Of course not.... Your friends are as weak as you are...."

Dracula, if that was even his true identity, was such a fool. Rei knew that Sailor Moon was the strongest of them all. She had healed Galaxia and bound Chaos. Even if it wasn't permanent, as Dracula claimed, it had still been done. If anyone could drive this darkness from her, Sailor Moon could.

"......"

She felt the darkness receding. The light was beginning to build.

"This is not worth it. If your friends want you this badly, they can have you. You are not as convenient as you were before, I'm afraid. I will easily find another. But... I have seen your future Hino Rei. Until we meet again......."

The darkness was overwhelmed by the glorious light. Rei opened her eyes.

* * *

The cheers were deafening. Rei sat up and was suddenly set upon by all of her friends.

"Careful!" she heard Artemis say despite his own happiness. "You don't want to smother her after all we just went through." Then he, too, joined the rest of them. She heard Luna complaining about them not telling the cats anything at all about all of this, but she too was up in the middle of it all.

After several blurry minutes, things returned to some semblance of order.

She noticed that Usagi was more subdued than what Rei would have expected.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Sailor Moon healed you," said Minako jovially. "We thought it wasn't going to work so we tried to help her. Then we thought _that_ wasn't going to work, but we didn't know what to do after that. Then you just woke up!"

"So am I...?" she asked, but she knew it was so. All traces of the tainted blood of Dracula had been purged from her body. She looked at Usagi, who smiled warmly back at her.

"Yes," said Ami. "You are one hundred percent back to normal as far as I can tell."

"It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen," came Jan's voice from behind her. She turned and saw him conferring with Alucard, Grant, and Kara.

"So..." Rei asked tentatively, "What are you guys going to do now that this is all finally finished?" Then she noticed two people standing behind Jan whom she didn't know.

At her inquiring expression, Jan said, "Oh! That's right, you were... sort of out of it during the escape. This is my father, Sinclair, and my grandfather, Emmett. We found them and all of the others on our way out of the castle." He looked up at them proudly and added, "Thanks to them, Dracula didn't harm any of the people he'd captured on the plane."

Rei smiled at them and Sinclair blushed. Emmett merely shook his head and said, "It was nothing. Merely doing what we had to do."

"Nonsense," said Seiya. "I saw myself what you were doing to those zombies. It was a good thing for Dracula that Jan had all of your family's weapons or you might have had everything taken care of before we even got there."

"Well, anyway," said Jan excitedly, "to answer your question, I intend to stay here in Japan as an exchange student."

"As will I," said Kara, smiling shyly.

"Really?" said Usagi. "That's great! Oh boy, this is going to be so much fun!"

"Usagi," said Luna.

Usagi, meanwhile had moved over to stand next to Kara. "Just wait to you see all the great places to shop around here!"

"Usagi!" said Luna again.

"And then there's the arcade, and the..."

"USAGI!!" yelled Luna.

"WHAT?!" said Usagi, then she saw them all staring at her. "Sorry," she said, blushing.

"It was so good to have things back to normal," Rei thought. Then she turned to Alucard and Grant.

"What about you guys?" she said, smiling. However, the expression on Alucard's face caused her smile to vanish.

"We must prepare for the next time," said Alucard.

Rei frowned. She remembered what Dracula had said to her in the dark. Then with a start she realized.... Alucard knew it all too. He nodded almost imperceptibly to let her know that she was right. Then she felt another faint memory. He had been with her when she had thought she was all alone in the darkness.

"Jeez, that's not going to take the whole century, Alucard," said Grant, as cheerful as ever. "Of course, we'll come visit you guys from time to time. Count on it."

"Well, that's nice and all," said Usagi, "And, of course, I'm really happy that we'll see you again. But as for right now... I'm in the mood to P-A-R-T-Y!!"

Rei blushed, then cracked up at the expression on Alucard's face at that. "This is going to be _some_ party," she thought as Usagi began to detail everything they were going to be doing for the next several hours.

**THE END.**

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**Author's Notes  
**

Hoo boy, where to start.

Okay, so I wrote this fanfic over a decade ago. (For reference, it is currently April 2010, as I write this new-for-FF-net note.) At the time, I thought it was awesome sauce. Now? Eh, not so much.

So why did I post this now, over ten years later? *shrug* I dunno. No real reason aside from just for the sheer heck of it, I guess. "For the lulz" as the kids might say. The fic itself is almost entirely unchanged from the way it was originally, way back in 1998-1999 when it was posted to the alt fan sailor-moon newsgroup, aside from me going back through it one more time and finding any more stray typos and the like, and reformatting it to use all that snazzy stuff like actual underlines as opposed to "-----" on the next line, and actual _italics_ as opposed to *asterisks* for *emphasis* and horizontal rules and such. I also cut out the header/disclaimer stuff from the subsequent chapters as well, as it's not really necessary in this format.

(Also, I moved this note to the end of the fic, rather than having it at the beginning, because I decided that, even though I don't think too awfully highly of the fic now, it would probably be a bad idea to instill any preconceived notions about it into any potential reader before they've ever even had a chance to read it and decide for themselves. For all I know, someone out there may have actually _enjoyed_ it.)

Oh, and I should also mention that, in the years since the writing of this fic, I have seen all 200 episodes of the Sailor Moon anime. That is... hmm... *counts on fingers* ...carry the 2... around 192 more episodes than I had seen _prior_ to writing this fic. At the time I wrote this fic, just about everything I knew about Sailor Moon came from the Internet. Fan sites and such. That's about it. As such, when rereading the fic again after watching the entire series, it was pretty cringe inducing. Also, on the Castlevania side, this fic was obviously written well before many of the more current Castlevania games were released, including pretty much all of the GBA/DS titles. As such, there are some glaring continuity errors between this fic and current Castlevania canon which, though it can't really be helped, is also rather cringe inducing (at least to me, anyway).

Lastly, I guess I should mention that I've also co-written a MST of this fic as well, with the help of Mordenkainen (aka Tuxedo Dionysus of OtakuWars! fame). I was originally going to post the MST to FanFiction Net as well. But I have decided not to post it, due to 1) FF Net's policy against MST fics, and 2) FF Net's policy against multiple entries of the same fic, since the MST pretty much contains the preceding fic in its entirety (but with about five or more times as much MST content added). I can and probably will make the MST available upon request, though. Just not to FF Net.

Again, except for the minor changes noted above, everything prior to this author's note at the end is exactly as it was originally posted to alt fan sailor-moon in 1998-1999.

And... that's about all I have to say, really. So, I hope you enjoyed this relic of my youth. Or if you didn't, I hope you at least tolerated it enough to get this far, so that you know that I share your disdain.


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